tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57893472942161384422024-03-13T11:37:56.016-07:00Christopher PelleyChristopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-43726740793294714772022-06-19T13:07:00.002-07:002022-06-19T19:19:10.183-07:00the palazzo<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIfJfh_5-cjDFbJ8K7qKYfP42Wp8N_ikW7WXXZ7g_NNSYyVyvccdMJvieUbbAS_vgEwN7xSJGgXC1f1vOJ3MqimsPQ2DB1YwDDV3RUN6zIa8WvQOpdORyAQbmsq_SbQc2ct5UxPhIxfJWAeT1Zo2fBMFhpFVu6SXjWsQoSstfUQ3gqupYKjV5qpaJCA/s438/Vasi154_a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="438" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIfJfh_5-cjDFbJ8K7qKYfP42Wp8N_ikW7WXXZ7g_NNSYyVyvccdMJvieUbbAS_vgEwN7xSJGgXC1f1vOJ3MqimsPQ2DB1YwDDV3RUN6zIa8WvQOpdORyAQbmsq_SbQc2ct5UxPhIxfJWAeT1Zo2fBMFhpFVu6SXjWsQoSstfUQ3gqupYKjV5qpaJCA/s320/Vasi154_a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The line
“It sounds real classy living in a chateau” from the punk rock
band The Tubes' 1977 hit song “White Punks on Dope” could apply
to me. I live in a 16<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century palazzo in Rome. People
immediately have visions of opulence and frescoed ceilings. But not
this palazzo. I live in Trastevere, the other side of the river, or
metaphorically, the other side of the tracks. Traditionally it's
been the working class district. The only fine palazzo I can think
of over here, apart from a few ecclesiastical buildings, is Palazzo
Corsini, originally built near the end of the 15<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century
by a Cardinal Riario, brother to the Pope at the time and father of
the future Pope Julius II (of Michelangelo fame). Later the property
was acquired and renovated by Queen Christina of Sweden who converted
to Christianity and settled in Rome. In the 18<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century
it was bought by the Corsini family, and retains their name today.
Across the street from Palazzo Corsini is the fabulously luxurious
Villa Farnesina built by the incredibly rich Agostino Chigi in the
early 16<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century, who happened to be Pope Julius II's
banker. These properties, though are not technically in Trastevere.
They are outside the City walls, just beyond the Porta Septimiana on
the road leading to the Vatican. But I digress...</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZOIXSCIyDUruoklJSBzvjuh2AC_HbO6ITBXVXV6MLR-rEBXfntEXAhsC4Df3aj4QksvpgAYcvBPScgjUIhu_1aeS_F1j7_FZ7amO6PDY-5xfsB3qK_ubEBEdzhuQCb2uWiOr4lB3RTM2vCI5gAhXO8l31cM1rq2KGtQ-YjOWirSmAD9502S9_tOFWA/s1080/s%20m%20trastevere%20late%201800s.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1080" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZOIXSCIyDUruoklJSBzvjuh2AC_HbO6ITBXVXV6MLR-rEBXfntEXAhsC4Df3aj4QksvpgAYcvBPScgjUIhu_1aeS_F1j7_FZ7amO6PDY-5xfsB3qK_ubEBEdzhuQCb2uWiOr4lB3RTM2vCI5gAhXO8l31cM1rq2KGtQ-YjOWirSmAD9502S9_tOFWA/s320/s%20m%20trastevere%20late%201800s.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">Palazzo
Leoni-Pizzirani is in the literal heart of Trastevere, forming one
side of the major piazza, facing the antique and venerable Basilica
of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Originally built in the 4<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century, the Basilica was reconstructed in its present form in the
12<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century and gussied up in the 17<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> and
19<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> centuries. The monumental columns pilfered from the
ruins of the Baths of Caracalla and the mosaics by Pietro Cavallini
from all those centuries ago still remain intact to this day. The
via Aurelia, one of the great consular roads of ancient Rome
(constructed circa 240 BC) delineates another side of the piazza
which has existed here pretty much the same since before the time of
Caesar.</div></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2JS7l2DbPK9l0w0zCssv3OPAV__Q8zGZ9CShOwPvAn_Js6jcJqhz-2wGJaYreQl0N_4Ly7jmgcO2zS4ORZ4X1ZbdusO-aW8149pJ1UWRZmIS0mkTjmYJGjq-JG_S3ZKbqrUKmB2lhVpDJVMaEDIOzjVgh3XFu5Ldg0i9UTrBy2jOQGs2KfrKi7o_sg/s1000/L_P_3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="1000" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2JS7l2DbPK9l0w0zCssv3OPAV__Q8zGZ9CShOwPvAn_Js6jcJqhz-2wGJaYreQl0N_4Ly7jmgcO2zS4ORZ4X1ZbdusO-aW8149pJ1UWRZmIS0mkTjmYJGjq-JG_S3ZKbqrUKmB2lhVpDJVMaEDIOzjVgh3XFu5Ldg0i9UTrBy2jOQGs2KfrKi7o_sg/s320/L_P_3.JPG" width="320" /></a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By the
early 1600's a clump of 5 buildings on the east side of the piazza
had coalesced into the nascent Palazzo built by the Cesarini family,
their avatar the eagle (a rather skinny specimen it might be noted,
but I guess things weren't as fat back then) still spreads its wings
above the main and only entrance. The bestiary continues inside on
the <i>piano nobile</i> with a lion's head on the crest of the
Leoni family who acquired the palazzo in the 18<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century.
In 1778 this main floor (<i>piano nobile)</i>
was occupied by the newly established “Venerabile Conservatorio di
S Giuseppe”, a “Conservatorio delle Pericolanti” or
conservatory for those in danger, meaning young girls. 42 of them
under the age of 18 were housed here, and you can guess the dangers.
Rome was a very rough town. The 19<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> century saw the palazzo pass to the Pizzirani family who added the
top floor to the building, and still own the building today.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1n_BdXEgZkOjqpjE8dkKBwRAVZqNDwxLI_W9HgXTM7Szy1___FWdUpzgoaQrWn9Y4C0MvbvtlaRRXhNoP-kpn8EAndzwTxCl_aJOhiCaYPCqTMCqglKMyKFXLEv2G8LJC0fuNB_ECU3cr7RTgS-GNbiI9VhXnF2qoeazyyr6p4m2UAXzBTQ4yWb4Jkw/s1090/L_P_4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1090" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1n_BdXEgZkOjqpjE8dkKBwRAVZqNDwxLI_W9HgXTM7Szy1___FWdUpzgoaQrWn9Y4C0MvbvtlaRRXhNoP-kpn8EAndzwTxCl_aJOhiCaYPCqTMCqglKMyKFXLEv2G8LJC0fuNB_ECU3cr7RTgS-GNbiI9VhXnF2qoeazyyr6p4m2UAXzBTQ4yWb4Jkw/s320/L_P_4.JPG" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
neighborhood has suffered significantly over the past years from
gentrification. One by one (with a few exceptions) stores for local
needs have become more upscale stores for the tourist trade. The
palazzo has resisted this trend, retaining its grittiness, but change
is infiltrating here too. As long time residents have died or moved
away, the vacant apartments are restructured and modernized, the old
cotta tiles laid in red and black patterns are replaced with fake wood
laminate floors, and rented out as Airbnb. In 2015 the exterior was
cleaned of a century+ of grime and repainted. A team of restorers
descended one day on the stairwell wearing hazmat suits and pre-covid
n95 masks and with surgical precision removed discreet layers of
paint to reveal the colors of centuries past. Beneath the current
beige and brown is a forgotten palette of creams, pale blue and even
some reddish-orange. Still, the place retains its forgotten Old Rome
feel.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacyi5jvN72UII3KNqDMuIQjWcdP3B6jT-i_mLvTz4-T-JV0D5XipCjRX9afqDm1aVVOjnLT6iAT4pT7M5DMwugqtxy_JCkV0JWM2Ykbt4lMx9JhmCH_oVydu8sgUAKeurqTfjCEvfb6OPO8FCsowpbJ4npWrYdEt12cdTGXouGzEHYZR9GLeS_9xzLg/s800/palazzo_paint.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="617" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacyi5jvN72UII3KNqDMuIQjWcdP3B6jT-i_mLvTz4-T-JV0D5XipCjRX9afqDm1aVVOjnLT6iAT4pT7M5DMwugqtxy_JCkV0JWM2Ykbt4lMx9JhmCH_oVydu8sgUAKeurqTfjCEvfb6OPO8FCsowpbJ4npWrYdEt12cdTGXouGzEHYZR9GLeS_9xzLg/w154-h200/palazzo_paint.JPG" width="154" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibd6C8jz_0WcgTiBAu0Jbhjh7UWI8zPuN-Py43ffEfNUOC0KTE6LdbfR4TjbMGj88lNUr_1mtlfTfZX38JDY8nc5Jcznfyzd-sw00J0b16gFjgx9qcxbGLKpFPiyEWWuWgMekWjxP33WDIvY6Dg5ctQI6CeA61UPO9he43pQwDwUA9cyOwPOIaytTxPQ/s800/palazzo_paint_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="800" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibd6C8jz_0WcgTiBAu0Jbhjh7UWI8zPuN-Py43ffEfNUOC0KTE6LdbfR4TjbMGj88lNUr_1mtlfTfZX38JDY8nc5Jcznfyzd-sw00J0b16gFjgx9qcxbGLKpFPiyEWWuWgMekWjxP33WDIvY6Dg5ctQI6CeA61UPO9he43pQwDwUA9cyOwPOIaytTxPQ/s320/palazzo_paint_2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">It
is that forgotten authenticity that appeals to me. It is the past,
not a sanitized version of the past. Up and down the well worn grand
staircase to the <i>piano nobile </i>has, I realize, inspired me on a
subconscious level. The erosion of the stonework, the repairs, the
suturing of materials to replace what was lost has crept into my work
as a visual doppelganger of my daily ascent and descent. My
experience has been made manifest.</span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPx0qeSdnWYMBemUgL-0Q5y33XqyYKqAhymFAhZj5Et-aswzeEHJ92dbDEkUPv0HwtvEZWZFFnEAlb7mATw9tM_FtSTbFFrmeLALPvuUwgC-6opNFJ2wO8guDXrmekBn93tILTzsQFqo51N18rzEKBdEDB9poXecS1zBGfuJTDDkvfBFAdO_rYXS4Tw/s800/palazzo_stair.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="800" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOPx0qeSdnWYMBemUgL-0Q5y33XqyYKqAhymFAhZj5Et-aswzeEHJ92dbDEkUPv0HwtvEZWZFFnEAlb7mATw9tM_FtSTbFFrmeLALPvuUwgC-6opNFJ2wO8guDXrmekBn93tILTzsQFqo51N18rzEKBdEDB9poXecS1zBGfuJTDDkvfBFAdO_rYXS4Tw/s320/palazzo_stair.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRseJvnXa0NZr5lkV94IMGOPZoIfa_ZkjAqTuc1JZXyjZdT-_ThPuDKVRJrXq0NGWRA6uYc-XMhJvieBH2CdbknQFQAc1V2ckJVnQ1fr6c0TS7ueE6qiK6H0RUY3qupJKfo_B57zwVCPX98ARGhBpm870u79bi56wS-ct7ZMnDu_gfd9m33tnufaJoQg/s800/palazzo_stair_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRseJvnXa0NZr5lkV94IMGOPZoIfa_ZkjAqTuc1JZXyjZdT-_ThPuDKVRJrXq0NGWRA6uYc-XMhJvieBH2CdbknQFQAc1V2ckJVnQ1fr6c0TS7ueE6qiK6H0RUY3qupJKfo_B57zwVCPX98ARGhBpm870u79bi56wS-ct7ZMnDu_gfd9m33tnufaJoQg/s320/palazzo_stair_2.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwaIDC_oPIkh3ejoppgBHECVlNiD8dhZIM7OKOE5kRB1g7zivnw12g1Ybe82bxnsKJFoLKtk_w-12g2-iTnv3A2iDYjYI4IFhN4c6KgsiS8KR0v8p3vMaAYwxqGf5q-e2kaN4yOsEAJgcSQi9Tp4eBy2U9yzjeSSMnkpKHjNCbEYYmaXn5ivkscCRNA/s833/theodosius.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley "Theodosius" charcoal/paper 70cm x 50cm" border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwaIDC_oPIkh3ejoppgBHECVlNiD8dhZIM7OKOE5kRB1g7zivnw12g1Ybe82bxnsKJFoLKtk_w-12g2-iTnv3A2iDYjYI4IFhN4c6KgsiS8KR0v8p3vMaAYwxqGf5q-e2kaN4yOsEAJgcSQi9Tp4eBy2U9yzjeSSMnkpKHjNCbEYYmaXn5ivkscCRNA/w230-h320/theodosius.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhWHU_PDeAn2IzyJ4Ly8IiDOVFtghQw-zbgzz30pjIp1wwmGaGhGRegLdcXT62Ya0502d9m5FdK7faxICYOwo_D9ToIeot0BcCn72RdOkRdSgN8nlovm-uEgrM1slM0hYQXgWkvHvTMh6iT4oTZsTrsqSTd85JBj4kez9daDCoBSEf-Vsd9nglePgUA/s979/PELLEY_altemps.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley "Altemps Satyr+Nymph" charcoal/paper 200cm x 140cm" border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhWHU_PDeAn2IzyJ4Ly8IiDOVFtghQw-zbgzz30pjIp1wwmGaGhGRegLdcXT62Ya0502d9m5FdK7faxICYOwo_D9ToIeot0BcCn72RdOkRdSgN8nlovm-uEgrM1slM0hYQXgWkvHvTMh6iT4oTZsTrsqSTd85JBj4kez9daDCoBSEf-Vsd9nglePgUA/w286-h400/PELLEY_altemps.JPG" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ4JEVM6rcajMfNAohCPDTd5OBEfgLdpZGsOcT74RyZPCoUaN9LLYwQvAn5AKBtqaYOEeffTE8YS-5KpGsZoeCZlcMDQazhw0Ef5kmoChgdMkcCRVRevDshAW8UwhQOcM1q7xNaDzrtOT_ZE6JqU2bCB3B73L9ui6nJubEE322iLnjiMCzqUBDbARQQ/s854/PELLEY_hadrian.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley "Recomposed Hadrian" charcoal/paper 100sm x 70cm" border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJ4JEVM6rcajMfNAohCPDTd5OBEfgLdpZGsOcT74RyZPCoUaN9LLYwQvAn5AKBtqaYOEeffTE8YS-5KpGsZoeCZlcMDQazhw0Ef5kmoChgdMkcCRVRevDshAW8UwhQOcM1q7xNaDzrtOT_ZE6JqU2bCB3B73L9ui6nJubEE322iLnjiMCzqUBDbARQQ/w225-h320/PELLEY_hadrian.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Not
content with with subconscious interactions, I occasionally engage in
physical interactions with the space. I admit, I have treated the
space as my playground, wondering my “if” out loud, not
particularly caring if the neighbors are listening. Its just a little
more grime added to the centuries.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBswO0_cpTkFSVDeDN2wHROUowExWVyUcEFJ9AR_e7Sy9dxwwW5sQeDjfAnBENcwGZQsjGHQlpJ6tuPiuaWz13dt5mck22ilK9_gK9Pj0os1Dw_Lu8_TK5QzZ2UnYUy6WdDpQ19U2GKhH7w92c-QdH3qkLsXe8hLpZqncqz8NCtSX3K7X_NWTGQIOtw/s750/palazzo_draw_1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley installation Palazzo Leoni-Pizzirani" border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="724" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBswO0_cpTkFSVDeDN2wHROUowExWVyUcEFJ9AR_e7Sy9dxwwW5sQeDjfAnBENcwGZQsjGHQlpJ6tuPiuaWz13dt5mck22ilK9_gK9Pj0os1Dw_Lu8_TK5QzZ2UnYUy6WdDpQ19U2GKhH7w92c-QdH3qkLsXe8hLpZqncqz8NCtSX3K7X_NWTGQIOtw/w309-h320/palazzo_draw_1.JPG" width="309" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOwllDaVv4Tivn1dMGprFy6qHoIDoMF4_0u-bmaQ3s-eTAYiMTJ1v8lXhooIjBTicZhU9668RDngn8jWZ66oE-me7JKXKM-AynX4HHA5DA0Cf22P_Tg_8mpK8fMcvK0IQGAMBT8-7RvBrRkKe_OLzZy3S8U_MkDrEvZP3WalMbw6KBU0H3guwWrBNpg/s816/palazzo_draw_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley installation Palazzo Leoni-Pizzirani" border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOwllDaVv4Tivn1dMGprFy6qHoIDoMF4_0u-bmaQ3s-eTAYiMTJ1v8lXhooIjBTicZhU9668RDngn8jWZ66oE-me7JKXKM-AynX4HHA5DA0Cf22P_Tg_8mpK8fMcvK0IQGAMBT8-7RvBrRkKe_OLzZy3S8U_MkDrEvZP3WalMbw6KBU0H3guwWrBNpg/w294-h400/palazzo_draw_2.JPG" width="294" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Yv-LWTaoCPkmZ8EDXBlkAgUkMgEtCMxC6_AjATTdsz6GfOUFb57Hwz8T3v4kSnDOIIfIZyiQYjXcNCD0GEKsbs6fKpv5N3OOBYMweRrHIpZeY3uvx4Ph9MYCmDmuFndCWgSialv_19TvCGRsO0cSoypgbpwQK6IV6QLHBKXyZS7uGu0UAJYqx4zpww/s823/palazzo_draw_3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christopher Pelley installation Palazzo Leoni-Pizzirani" border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Yv-LWTaoCPkmZ8EDXBlkAgUkMgEtCMxC6_AjATTdsz6GfOUFb57Hwz8T3v4kSnDOIIfIZyiQYjXcNCD0GEKsbs6fKpv5N3OOBYMweRrHIpZeY3uvx4Ph9MYCmDmuFndCWgSialv_19TvCGRsO0cSoypgbpwQK6IV6QLHBKXyZS7uGu0UAJYqx4zpww/w291-h400/palazzo_draw_3.JPG" width="291" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>post
script</i>: after a weekend of installing and photographing my
drawings in and around the public spaces I heard a very loud voice in the
stairwell speaking to the caretaker. I assumed the speaker was
Pizzirani himself, heir to the palazzo. My drawings were gone.
Outside the palazzo was a notice of an upcoming meeting of The
Committee for Life in Trastevere aggressively taped to the door.
Item number 4 on the agenda to be discussed was “street artists”.
Not sure if that was a good sign or not...</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwcW9Ip2yfUS_zXKXXIZFKVJYKaVZa1bnkIrSy4kNFtTYBWLqbgxBJebhSRSvw5xBikbnX5TZpf2AFS--6XZwIIem9XgDTrDIjp2CPvyaWZFZHDZrdz8eh_cfoZdEXqqLcVMlPNC8XRyHjHbAKiqHUtJItvha1Od3tA4eSNBgjG865WDiZZlN_blTZw/s800/palazzo_commitee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwcW9Ip2yfUS_zXKXXIZFKVJYKaVZa1bnkIrSy4kNFtTYBWLqbgxBJebhSRSvw5xBikbnX5TZpf2AFS--6XZwIIem9XgDTrDIjp2CPvyaWZFZHDZrdz8eh_cfoZdEXqqLcVMlPNC8XRyHjHbAKiqHUtJItvha1Od3tA4eSNBgjG865WDiZZlN_blTZw/s320/palazzo_commitee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">END</span></div><p></p></div></div><br /><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span><p></p></div><p></p>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-25491617215157850032022-03-06T08:59:00.000-08:002022-03-06T08:59:39.237-08:00Lei Feng - culturally appropriate<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjOFI9K-2i_x-iZoeMaI2-xOtXLzRsTU6rp6jqZU-K__Ijgdg97b4bASz0Ckfo3TACn0YlVQvETkqr-sTqZ8hEghbZzirlMZRsI1BOirRihcbKfQtv6xpn1WOFqqiSL4Lxm8u7rmQ8h8ZyNlmmY5dMla_LfYDPcLp1bsvckJn57OR8nexphRhHY9Q0cg=s658" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjOFI9K-2i_x-iZoeMaI2-xOtXLzRsTU6rp6jqZU-K__Ijgdg97b4bASz0Ckfo3TACn0YlVQvETkqr-sTqZ8hEghbZzirlMZRsI1BOirRihcbKfQtv6xpn1WOFqqiSL4Lxm8u7rmQ8h8ZyNlmmY5dMla_LfYDPcLp1bsvckJn57OR8nexphRhHY9Q0cg=s320" width="243" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Artist
development classes always suggest that besides a resume and a bio an
artist should have what is called an “elevator pitch” - a
prepared 30 second description of your artistic practice. My pitch
(even though no one has ever asked what I do whilst in an elevator)
states in part that my work revolves around deconstructing cultural narratives. In
China, that narrative has involved Lei Feng,
hero of the Cultural Revolution.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Lei Feng
(1940-1962) posthumously became the poster boy for the Chinese
Communist Party when in 1963 Mao declared that all should learn from Comrade
Lei Feng. His diary was published, photos of him performing
good deeds appeared (complete with harsh stage lighting) and school
children sang songs about him. He was the perfect Hero minted for
turbulent times. He was an orphan, available for every mother to
desire and protect as her own. His cupid's bow lips made
every schoolgirl swoon, his work as a mechanic driving a truck in
the People's Liberation Army was the envy of every schoolboy. He had
the rare combination of both compassion and political fervor. He
extolled the virtues of Mao and the Communist Party <i>and</i> he darned his
comrade's socks and helped old ladies in the rain. Like all good Heroes, he died young before the
cynicism of old age set in – although his death was a bit
unusual... He was directing a truck to back up which hit a telephone
pole that fell upon his head and killed him. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXHpjUwH7CQD-Jd-sYsoH8tDDoLDSD0LUWG6yHX97SBFotcEj6w6pvb_3bjZKoLLFTIVS1naIujTXam3R_piUflNhXKwSuJLEbI0oyjuCO8slrqTj2A87JjfS2-AvqswUSZ5HvQcff7J_-UBlba8cpuu8Luvhyjbk0daJLHE9JMsgWMV5UElheqrpo1w=s3800" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2396" data-original-width="3800" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXHpjUwH7CQD-Jd-sYsoH8tDDoLDSD0LUWG6yHX97SBFotcEj6w6pvb_3bjZKoLLFTIVS1naIujTXam3R_piUflNhXKwSuJLEbI0oyjuCO8slrqTj2A87JjfS2-AvqswUSZ5HvQcff7J_-UBlba8cpuu8Luvhyjbk0daJLHE9JMsgWMV5UElheqrpo1w=w400-h253" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I Want To Be A Rustless Screw" (Lei Feng diary entry) <br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley temporary installation Beijing</span></span><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">One of
the earliest images of China I remember was back in the late 60's,
early 70's, when China was always referred to as </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Red</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">
China. It was a photo in the local newspaper of a low brick building
covered with sheets of paper with large Chinese characters written on
them. This was the height of the terror that was the Cultural
Revolution and these were public denunciations. Memories of that
grainy newspaper image stirred when I ended up in a village outside
of Beijing in 2014 seeing buildings of a style reminiscent of that
old photo. So began the journey connecting my youthful impressions
of Red China with the modern country existing within the not-to-be-mentioned long shadow of the
cultural revolution. Lei Feng became the
protagonist, the vehicle to unravel what I saw.</span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
image and message of the good deeds and fealty of Lei Feng has been
revived by the Communist Party leadership may times over the
intervening half century. The public views the little soldier either
negatively as a top down heavy handed production of the propaganda
machine or he is embraced in the enduring allure of the hero myth.
I appropriated not only his image but also the propaganda tropes and
used culturally significant materials to navigate my Chinese
experience.</span></div><p></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglpDh5gZW-KSExfm2KE0uEdgSoOVRpwnXHCK6o5yA89yhaqvhHGFvcG-gr8uwphsrtGT9dQFXAFXHxAYvfyymburjUpkAw0tDDKyY7O0FWT1axsS9CyvrkI0K35m4se6g05HXhzWfqly4wo3kz_RJZbaaVy7O6KmYpftyLPgjKO6KXtUZ5nobn-q0CIg=w266-h355" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="266" /> </td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">advert for exhibition at 東西projects </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div data-draftjs-conductor-fragment="{"blocks":[{"key":"a2rf5","text":"In an old building in Shangyuan Village, Beijing I opened 東西projects, a curatorial projects space where I freely referenced the imagery of the Cultural Revolution","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}],"entityMap":{},"VERSION":"8.69.22"}" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In an old building in Shangyuan Village, Beijing I opened 東西projects, a curatorial projects space where I freely referenced the imagery of the Cultural Revolution</span></div><div data-draftjs-conductor-fragment="{"blocks":[{"key":"a2rf5","text":"In an old building in Shangyuan Village, Beijing I opened 東西projects, a curatorial projects space where I freely referenced the imagery of the Cultural Revolution","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}],"entityMap":{},"VERSION":"8.69.22"}" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAsVMJMw95H-anWy5bwboDfNminXlbF5dHba0pHyOPpnt3OejSruh4VHX9vHsbKRDNuwZIxLfXIHWXW8Et0tGLxhUhzC4myDC9WRTcaHJUgYnmKJQ4IxgbpaZVXMmq0JAyjPy7uCedXWB9KYCLDckmtjQjkq7LSRptrmgI9uWey3i30baXpnMnKyzAgA=s1024" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1024" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAsVMJMw95H-anWy5bwboDfNminXlbF5dHba0pHyOPpnt3OejSruh4VHX9vHsbKRDNuwZIxLfXIHWXW8Et0tGLxhUhzC4myDC9WRTcaHJUgYnmKJQ4IxgbpaZVXMmq0JAyjPy7uCedXWB9KYCLDckmtjQjkq7LSRptrmgI9uWey3i30baXpnMnKyzAgA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">東西projects space, Beijing</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div data-draftjs-conductor-fragment="{"blocks":[{"key":"a2rf5","text":"In an old building in Shangyuan Village, Beijing I opened 東西projects, a curatorial projects space where I freely referenced the imagery of the Cultural Revolution","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}],"entityMap":{},"VERSION":"8.69.22"}" style="text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjs9_UClVSzWIeZEFXTMC1mlJamTs_4Zn1WpmS1i6N8HblKnffMHLIi508O3eNdorSi-psEbd3aazGiaBCWQPwP8-CO8wQLrtwZEWyxfDUCNOdgmmchZPOlNMEAQ1CHOhc8BugNBq8BdeAWY6w2j3IuiWtibr0nNDCW0FBsfa-FLMrjtK4-jmrTIot9zw=s1387" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1387" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjs9_UClVSzWIeZEFXTMC1mlJamTs_4Zn1WpmS1i6N8HblKnffMHLIi508O3eNdorSi-psEbd3aazGiaBCWQPwP8-CO8wQLrtwZEWyxfDUCNOdgmmchZPOlNMEAQ1CHOhc8BugNBq8BdeAWY6w2j3IuiWtibr0nNDCW0FBsfa-FLMrjtK4-jmrTIot9zw=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley "Lei Feng Coal Dust"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7LhUbpfVMfpsskXw1K2gaxm-RXV-XEcCSFd8UAQ92Pwuv44AI15m5_hGliYZuF4oWVqFcgCnoaSFMGmvcU9IyEg3c40n65vbYftOnyLyWb-oUEYJTZ0osRtwF0gfUJ9a22PQj0sMD1sVlb9Dnw6pJeeAOU99uSrVCpEaQztLMdpKIWgATEoLJWCySZg=s1101" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1101" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7LhUbpfVMfpsskXw1K2gaxm-RXV-XEcCSFd8UAQ92Pwuv44AI15m5_hGliYZuF4oWVqFcgCnoaSFMGmvcU9IyEg3c40n65vbYftOnyLyWb-oUEYJTZ0osRtwF0gfUJ9a22PQj0sMD1sVlb9Dnw6pJeeAOU99uSrVCpEaQztLMdpKIWgATEoLJWCySZg=s320" width="291" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley "Chinese Characteristics #3"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">oil/canvas, string</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAxV1Ez6eEnKWzFbDT6SQmwSjwQ0gWcB_ul-D7AMrAR_-myDMIYkrMLepxrtEN8XkvI0OnRfePdjytYTam0kT4Cb-9eBKdX3Oc7mqfV31jn4SJ5-wxqWfoQrM2EWY_OIo2OrgGlHBRyl8zG9JNC89tJJvs3hlsKWSEc0kx-l-sQ1862nU0nrMrBQwoCg=s1000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="970" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAxV1Ez6eEnKWzFbDT6SQmwSjwQ0gWcB_ul-D7AMrAR_-myDMIYkrMLepxrtEN8XkvI0OnRfePdjytYTam0kT4Cb-9eBKdX3Oc7mqfV31jn4SJ5-wxqWfoQrM2EWY_OIo2OrgGlHBRyl8zG9JNC89tJJvs3hlsKWSEc0kx-l-sQ1862nU0nrMrBQwoCg=s320" width="310" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley "Red Star w/ Rice Sparrow"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">spent fire cracker papers, rice</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As
I write this blog post I am in Rome, surrounded by the debris that
informed my Catholic youth. Everywhere is the imagery of hands
pointing accusingly up to heaven or down to hell. The martyrs, whose
lives were snuffed out by the most brutal of means – burnings,
beheadings, fed to wild beasts – are portrayed in graphic detail on
ceilings and walls at every turn. As a boy I would have much
preferred dreaming of a young man, not much older than myself,
working on motors and driving trucks than contemplating the
psycho-sadistic terrors brought upon the christian faithful. But
that, dear reader, is another narrative to be deconstructed.</span></p></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><br />Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-79190740534654986572022-02-09T12:33:00.000-08:002022-02-09T12:33:44.469-08:00La Fornarina<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihvX8DH8V6cQUrP0Pl08h2LCfXWgp3x5X2dPiqMxZeP53JKoRLc6ynzWE9ZD5EdWUczQfTn_aod2BDKwSGSFN8mB7qsZAbZnoscANaoXeFCrvkMfj-CQe4IX6MWt2jEG1VhCtMpMvIE4RqR-NXBM0iGEkesvbf-LP-n_4PJMAQWq_WmQMeSMLL8sZjTA=s2640" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1370" data-original-width="2640" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihvX8DH8V6cQUrP0Pl08h2LCfXWgp3x5X2dPiqMxZeP53JKoRLc6ynzWE9ZD5EdWUczQfTn_aod2BDKwSGSFN8mB7qsZAbZnoscANaoXeFCrvkMfj-CQe4IX6MWt2jEG1VhCtMpMvIE4RqR-NXBM0iGEkesvbf-LP-n_4PJMAQWq_WmQMeSMLL8sZjTA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When
I see two disparate objects, I like to ask what is the connection?
That's just the way I am. That's how my mind works, always trying to
find the relationships, trying to make sense and order out of my
daily chaos.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Piazza
di Sant' Apollonia is a tiny piazza in the Trastevere section of
Rome, where the church and attached convent of Sant' Apollonia, now
long since gone, once existed. The urban fabric retains the name and
an apartment block built in 1888 incorporates remnants and follows
the footprint of the demolished convent and church. When I moved
into an apartment in the Palazzo Leoni-Pizzirani which looms over the
diminutive piazza, there were a few items left behind by the previous
tenant. One item, lone on a shelf, was a bag of flour.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDPddHvXP1zObv7LrqnkOlCRxfnE5TLfBVB9XhJ48XJsqqpX9tr9m471exFm60n_52ZEcvdRY8AR6Xfm0VnMq-08WvhNUvK3-xLXFgBk-A7ObUFQgZ3oRjy-FXkvvfaLOVkNPIeYiIDaV259rVzbssj9w7xa0x1ur3J90l9bWkwqr2qVkCfJ_ptzausg=s950" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="795" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDPddHvXP1zObv7LrqnkOlCRxfnE5TLfBVB9XhJ48XJsqqpX9tr9m471exFm60n_52ZEcvdRY8AR6Xfm0VnMq-08WvhNUvK3-xLXFgBk-A7ObUFQgZ3oRjy-FXkvvfaLOVkNPIeYiIDaV259rVzbssj9w7xa0x1ur3J90l9bWkwqr2qVkCfJ_ptzausg=w167-h200" width="167" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As
I unpacked and settled in, organizing, sorting and arranging the
space, my mind, that ever restless extension of self, fretted
unsettled over this bag of flour and its relationship to the piazza
below me.</span></p><div>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They
say that Raphael fell in love with a baker's daughter who lived in
the neighborhood – maybe on Vicolo del Cedro, maybe on Via di Santa
Dorotea, while working on a commission decorating the filthy rich
1%er Agostini Chigi's Villa Farnesina a couple hundred meters away.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis5ohwOUG65aW97nd4KLEiaHEDIdOAF7v_1b2j3j60FVnVSpKVXNGt5ZflGjnlPwJ2lkLrIeRJ4TK58a9ScAIgy9blmSnkwWYVZKJsFWKO5oRdqPfD3-aWWVDvV8IU4M6lcAezG4UrzIsTAN6RggvHDzpGdb4zGQCRWcU75aJ0PxX27RZOwOCukWYogA=s1057" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1057" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEis5ohwOUG65aW97nd4KLEiaHEDIdOAF7v_1b2j3j60FVnVSpKVXNGt5ZflGjnlPwJ2lkLrIeRJ4TK58a9ScAIgy9blmSnkwWYVZKJsFWKO5oRdqPfD3-aWWVDvV8IU4M6lcAezG4UrzIsTAN6RggvHDzpGdb4zGQCRWcU75aJ0PxX27RZOwOCukWYogA=w284-h400" width="284" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Raphael "La Fornarina"</span></div></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Raphael
was obsessed with her. He painted her portrait. The eyes are
twinkling, hesitant to make direct contact with the viewer, the lips
are full with just a twitch of a knowing smile. The shoulders and
breasts are bare, a diaphanous whatever held without conviction
between her right hand and the left breast which she gently fingers,
falls with a few cascading folds over her naked tummy. The rich
coral colored dress has slumped from the upper half of her body,
clumping around the waist. Her legs, the only things concealed by
the voluminous folds, are slightly parted, her hand resting on her
pudenda with fingers splayed, pushing apart the folds in what can
only be construed as a beckoning gesture. Yes, it is as I described
it... it's 16th</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> century porn. </span>
</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They
say that Chigi was so exasperated that Raphael kept skipping out to
dally with the baker's daughter, that he had her installed at the
Villa. There is also a tradition that says that Raphael had rooms in
the little piazza outside my door. The whirlwind romance did not
last for long. Within a year, Raphael was dead at the age of 37.
The baker's daughter “retired” to the convent of Sant' Apollonia
where she lived out her life in the cloister.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My
mind relaxed. Like an Umberto Eco novel, it had found connection and
meaning between place and thing. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly for
those of you who believe nothing is completely random) the connection
goes farther than a bag of flour and the baker's daughter. There was
at the time of Raphael a tiny church in the piazza dedicated to San
Cristoforo, my namesake and patron saint. That church was demolished
when Sant' Apollonia was rebuilt and enlarged in 1582, but an ancient
fresco of Christopher was saved and lingered on in the new complex.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Armed
with this knowledge I was motivated to take action. I used the bag
of flour to remember La Fornarina in the piazza. In the end though,
like the church and convent, all was swept away.</span></p></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw2EMML9pqrwHTM7YFdjAUz99M1ckqbZjo4KRAlofK9dpmLG0alCCqXR6X3c8RBXMNGJbfhsGbBBNG8SRl7QA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pelley "La Fornarina" in Piazza di S Apollonia</span></div></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEknffynM1wpr5d_6Ikyq6keppLz5CZyJLrI58JBTuPTIW03b5GqnADVsshNVfBb8N0E9vk9ut_xkCTPD1TKdh3Os2ddtBlDTNz3RUT3J-GxurmJDs7Co60y3TbKV7Tm1IQtTmvQyGgjQzYvZJ_1CjuB5kM12X-2A8L--WuK5wG_PNL_JIhwWX-PlhPA=s1182" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEknffynM1wpr5d_6Ikyq6keppLz5CZyJLrI58JBTuPTIW03b5GqnADVsshNVfBb8N0E9vk9ut_xkCTPD1TKdh3Os2ddtBlDTNz3RUT3J-GxurmJDs7Co60y3TbKV7Tm1IQtTmvQyGgjQzYvZJ_1CjuB5kM12X-2A8L--WuK5wG_PNL_JIhwWX-PlhPA=s320" width="271" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Pelley "La Fornarina"</div></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8sHg6146IL9R8Uc9kZvd6uiGGCuXHOg5ER0a3pV9jILZT4q1lwOSEg8EYC40k2oZY_duFiAv3ePlthoP5n6P16qU6PTkbtJrsaUfigAsNfiv0xziJj43JV7CsLmgK-u6E2xrTqA1pFP0fdd4Y8wb1EMVUB4t6RnEVZGQDh7GUJIvnCyOF-K4Du5pjcQ=s1341" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1341" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8sHg6146IL9R8Uc9kZvd6uiGGCuXHOg5ER0a3pV9jILZT4q1lwOSEg8EYC40k2oZY_duFiAv3ePlthoP5n6P16qU6PTkbtJrsaUfigAsNfiv0xziJj43JV7CsLmgK-u6E2xrTqA1pFP0fdd4Y8wb1EMVUB4t6RnEVZGQDh7GUJIvnCyOF-K4Du5pjcQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Pelley "La Fornarina" selfie</div></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhE8ck4-OOntEwqfju12avIgQ4iV4MKqrmp6lr1RFlRYXSx5EeybyftIA6wnxP9UZL8uRhSTPz8ggv_YqW3DXjUG30InhGcenBOtIPujTVR4snknSJtUzJDxl77iOkm1JdV1SIQo6q601tIh8e6YHptY05mzit2iTKdLeXBg88uCtQxuMYR0Beh2oYCsg=s1080" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhE8ck4-OOntEwqfju12avIgQ4iV4MKqrmp6lr1RFlRYXSx5EeybyftIA6wnxP9UZL8uRhSTPz8ggv_YqW3DXjUG30InhGcenBOtIPujTVR4snknSJtUzJDxl77iOkm1JdV1SIQo6q601tIh8e6YHptY05mzit2iTKdLeXBg88uCtQxuMYR0Beh2oYCsg=s320" width="296" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;">end</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p></div><p><br /> </p>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-63165615563762560592021-02-20T12:29:00.001-08:002021-02-20T12:31:02.590-08:00A Damnatio Memoriae for the Digital Age<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quQhq2NbTSs/YB9LXr1sScI/AAAAAAAAB9I/SV0zoP0yFQY5U2ivqBW_Mr_3vSkJupQbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s903/constantine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-quQhq2NbTSs/YB9LXr1sScI/AAAAAAAAB9I/SV0zoP0yFQY5U2ivqBW_Mr_3vSkJupQbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w319-h400/constantine.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In a courtyard of the Capitoline Museum in Rome are remnants of a monumental sculpture of Emperor Constantine. Clumped together in no particular order are bits of a colossal marble arm, a leg, a knee, feet that dwarf us mere mortals, a hand pointing heavenward and a head with its massive eyeballs focused far above and beyond you. The fragments, disconcerting as they are, start to reveal a deeper secret as you wander around them. The extremities are very naturalistic - the feeling of veins muscle and tissue are coaxed from the marble. But that iconic head is, well, <i>iconic</i>. It is stiff and stylised. The hair is suggested with the most rudimentary carving. And the proportions seem a little out of whack. It doesn't look like it belongs with the other body parts. Something happened way back when. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Back when in the 3rd century AD, the unending political chaos of the Roman Empire ultimately lead to the formation of a new power sharing structure between Diocletian (ruled 284-305) and Maximian (ruled 286-305) called the Tetrarchy which for awhile brought stability. But the planned orderly succession of power upon their joint abdication did not go so orderly and rapidly devolved back into chaos and ultimately a civil war between Maxentius, who controlled Italy and the African provinces and Constantine who controlled Britain, Gaul, Spain and the Rhineland. While Constantine was busy trying to consolidate support up north, Maxentius began and extensive building program in Rome to win the "hearts and minds" of the population and restore the status of the ancient capitol. He built large and luxuriously. He restored the Hadrianic era Temple of Venus and Roma which had been destroyed by fire, built an enormous new basilica in the Roman Forum and began a new bath complex on the Quirinal hill. On October 28 in the year 312, Maxentius exited his newly fortified walls of Rome to confront Constantine in the final battle for power</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> at Milvian Bridge, just north of the city. The outcome irrevocably changed history. (Maxentius lost). Following his victory, Constantine did all he could to wipe the defeated adversary's name from the memory of the city's inhabitants. A Damnatio Memoriae was enacted.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Damnatio Memoriae is the dishonor of memory where traces of the offending individual were rubbed out - literally and figuratively. It was the cancel culture of the ancient world. Maxentius was not the first to be hit with this decree, nor was he the last; just another in a long line. Septimius Severus was to co-rule with his brother, Geta, but that didn't work out. Septimius had Geta murdered within a year of acquiring power and all images of his sibling were chiseled out of existence, leaving some unusual "gaps" in the physical record. Marcus Aurelius did the same to his adoptive brother and co-emperor, Lucius Verus. The bronze colossus that once stood next to the Flavian Amphitheater (now known by the generic name of colosseum) was originally a statue of Nero residing within the confines of his Domus Aurea. After the "unexpected" death of that emperor, and the subsequent official decree of damnatio memoriae, the bronze colossus was moved a few hundred yards, underwent some changes to the head, and was thus transformed into a statue of Apollo that served as an ornament to the newly built arena. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N27hXySIti0/YDFgYEadAPI/AAAAAAAAB9k/1RQtaX6WeNIZ-t97NO6Mn1FeTe0ybu08QCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/geta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N27hXySIti0/YDFgYEadAPI/AAAAAAAAB9k/1RQtaX6WeNIZ-t97NO6Mn1FeTe0ybu08QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/geta.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Severan family portrait (with face of Geta removed)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">The discordant head of Constantine at the Capitoline Museum has a similar story. The enormous statue was actually of Maxentius housed in the enormous basilica he built. A quick recarving of the head after Maxentius' defeat and it was now Constantine who presided over the basilica.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The events of the last months of the Trump administration made me think of the machinations and jockeying for power of imperial wannabes in late antiquity. I began to wonder if the decree of Damnatio Memoriae had any resonance today. Then Corporate America stepped in:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BX8C4BvPz0g/YDFuscLtJLI/AAAAAAAAB9w/RePP9AiokOINodJ-mwWRyD44GW_ygRINwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1242/ErPyWiSW8AYIat6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BX8C4BvPz0g/YDFuscLtJLI/AAAAAAAAB9w/RePP9AiokOINodJ-mwWRyD44GW_ygRINwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ErPyWiSW8AYIat6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7NPwdfmwQ8/YDFu6TjGt8I/AAAAAAAAB90/NWystH3_oWQ6RO5VRag8jsgbBE2vB1dVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1671/ErUFEo3XAAMvNN0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1671" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p7NPwdfmwQ8/YDFu6TjGt8I/AAAAAAAAB90/NWystH3_oWQ6RO5VRag8jsgbBE2vB1dVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ErUFEo3XAAMvNN0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZfEXl2IvfY/YDFvEobCmNI/AAAAAAAAB98/3uklvIQx8gc1gSsvpWDHV2IdNgqqQgWwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1067/EsMPKJ_XAAMZheu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="1067" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZfEXl2IvfY/YDFvEobCmNI/AAAAAAAAB98/3uklvIQx8gc1gSsvpWDHV2IdNgqqQgWwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/EsMPKJ_XAAMZheu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As a post script, Representative Joaquin Castro has introduced legislation to ban Trump's name from being used on federal property.</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-7419843753609560372021-01-01T07:39:00.000-08:002021-01-01T07:41:00.346-08:00Sancta Prepuce<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytTyQNeSK1M/X9uWA4sZlKI/AAAAAAAAB6w/XNBlDeQqqsYxhLZYQXx7lNVkt6MCJb-XQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/CirconcisionRothenburg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytTyQNeSK1M/X9uWA4sZlKI/AAAAAAAAB6w/XNBlDeQqqsYxhLZYQXx7lNVkt6MCJb-XQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/CirconcisionRothenburg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Two words: <i><b>Conspiracy Theories</b></i>. No matter how outrageous, how convoluted or how devoid of analytical thought, our country is gripped by them them. They are the currency of today. Internet fame is conferred upon those that peddle them. Media empires are built upon amplifying them, and then they re-enforce them through endless repetition for fear of loosing market share. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, I have my own conspiracy theory and it centers around today's Feast of the Holy Circumcision (January 1st) and one questionable relic. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Relics were the conspiracy theories of the middle ages. They were actively traded and monetised; they brought wealth and prestige to the churches and abbeys that housed them. They were engines of economic growth. Beyond the mundane bits of bone and fragments of the true cross, there were many more outlandish ones including milk from the breast of the Virgin Mary, along with her belt that she inadvertently left behind when she ascended into heaven. There was also the manger that the baby Jesus was placed in and the lance that pierced his side. Possibly the most peculiar relic, and the one that my conspiracy theory revolves around, is the Sancta Prepuce, or the foreskin of Jesus. Jesus, born a Jew, would have been circumcised 8 days after birth.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">December 25, in the year 800, Charlemagne, King of the Frankish kingdoms, was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in St Peter's in Rome. Among the gifts Charlemagne gave to Pope Leo was a small alabaster box that contained, preserved in oil, the foreskin of Jesus. Where Charlemagne acquired this peculiar item is not known, but once in his possession, Leo III placed it in his private chapel in the medieval Lateran Palace, the Sancta Sanctorum, with other priceless relics and there it stayed for the following 700 years. During the Sack of Rome in 1527 it was looted. Later that year, a German mercenary was captured in Calcata with the precious relic which was then transferred to the village church.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hDR1XBM-rJs/X-kKklVAkqI/AAAAAAAAB7U/vrVhuFcDahUy7lpaGY6elnbyIkuI180hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/calcata.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="800" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hDR1XBM-rJs/X-kKklVAkqI/AAAAAAAAB7U/vrVhuFcDahUy7lpaGY6elnbyIkuI180hQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/calcata.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Calcata is an ancient medieval town perched precariously atop volcanic cliffs 47 km north of Rome. With the foreskin now housed in its church, it became a popular pilgrimage destination complete with a 10 year indulgence offered to pilgrims who made the trek there. Each year on January 1st, the Feast of the Holy Circumcision, the relic was paraded around town. Until 1983. That is when he parish priest Dario Magnoni announced to the village that the Sancta Prepuce had vanished. Stolen. Gone. But no police report was ever filed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For most of the preceding century, the Papal authority had questioned and sought to suppress the veracity of the Holy Foreskin. By 1900</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">citing "irreverent curiosity"</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, the importance of the relic was downplayed,. Soon after, even mentioning the Sancta Prepuce could lead to excommunication. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">In 1960 as part of Pope John XXIII's liturgical calendar revisions, January 1st was renamed the Octave of the Nativity, no longer explicitly mentioning the circumcision. In 1969 the name was changed again to the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, effectively erasing the connection to the foreskin. But still, Calcata persisted.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">So why did this tradition which spanned hundreds of years come to an abrupt end in 1983? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is my Q-anon worthy theory. In the 1970's a rapid sequencing technique for DNA was developed. B</span><span style="font-family: arial;">y the early 1980's t</span><span style="font-family: arial;">his technology was established and reputable enough to be used in court cases to secure a conviction. In 1982 Delacorte Press published a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, which became a New York Times best seller. The book,</span><i style="font-family: arial;"> Holy Blood, Holy Grail, </i><span style="font-family: arial;">put forth the idea of a bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It is an idea that Dan Brown would later employ as the storyline for his explosive and phenomenally popular book, </span><i style="font-family: arial;">The DaVinci Code. </i></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Jb_2S5aVQg/X-lBN_WocMI/AAAAAAAAB7g/yp2PPK_zhaEm3b86yUawLVeLOqWzBLAVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/davinci_code.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Jb_2S5aVQg/X-lBN_WocMI/AAAAAAAAB7g/yp2PPK_zhaEm3b86yUawLVeLOqWzBLAVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/davinci_code.jpg" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Now there was the real possibility that Christianity could be brought to its knees - if the DNA of the Sancta Prepuce could be sequenced and a bloodline of Jesus could be identified, that would throw into doubt the divinity and divine origins of Christ. All would collapse like a house of cards. The Vatican had to act, and act fast. The wealth, power and prestige of the Church was threatened. The ancient relic was made to disappear.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Today Calcata is a quirky quiet little village, still clinging to the rocky outcropping. In 2015, I decided to post drawings of prepuce around the town in homage to its past.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4VyloiaPBk/X-y0LAUVkNI/AAAAAAAAB7s/wo3ioFIf4sIP6l2vJirVbYX8-ooyNT3pgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/PELLEY_calcata_1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1000" height="345" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4VyloiaPBk/X-y0LAUVkNI/AAAAAAAAB7s/wo3ioFIf4sIP6l2vJirVbYX8-ooyNT3pgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h345/PELLEY_calcata_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gA56zHKvXXA/X-y0ZzQ9f-I/AAAAAAAAB7w/FWPV6MSQIbESWbrOuTzsKQ8ukwCsJI7pgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/PELLEY_calcata_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1000" height="331" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gA56zHKvXXA/X-y0ZzQ9f-I/AAAAAAAAB7w/FWPV6MSQIbESWbrOuTzsKQ8ukwCsJI7pgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h331/PELLEY_calcata_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PVfxELqCrPk/X-y0oF31M8I/AAAAAAAAB74/Yi-ZUHqg52EsiRXe8_ud7Ife5OdWRkF7gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/PELLEY_calcata_3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1000" height="324" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PVfxELqCrPk/X-y0oF31M8I/AAAAAAAAB74/Yi-ZUHqg52EsiRXe8_ud7Ife5OdWRkF7gCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h324/PELLEY_calcata_3.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9GGCXK1GiB8/X-y0yU5ZWWI/AAAAAAAAB8A/bXiYjO1IlMksKqAsMo9UGg_1p3bS0YkSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/PELLEY_calcata_4.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1000" height="303" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9GGCXK1GiB8/X-y0yU5ZWWI/AAAAAAAAB8A/bXiYjO1IlMksKqAsMo9UGg_1p3bS0YkSwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h303/PELLEY_calcata_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-27036661919471513582020-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:002020-07-31T09:56:55.581-07:00Me Too<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20Ltq9UYk5M/XyHA7u6_T0I/AAAAAAAAB2w/ZU9mIeVcQ2U4jCmDIUcfEzjvTK49gIyDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1400/pussy_hat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1400" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-20Ltq9UYk5M/XyHA7u6_T0I/AAAAAAAAB2w/ZU9mIeVcQ2U4jCmDIUcfEzjvTK49gIyDQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/pussy_hat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><font face="arial">The presidency of Donald Trump has polarised our nation. But his toxic brand has served to clarify and amplify the distinction between an entrenched misogynistic and racist culture and those of us that believe in a broader sense of equality and justice for all. He has made (many) of us look a little closer at our thoughts, actions and even our collective histories. This process has spun way beyond the first pussy hat marches in the opening days of this administration and the sustained Black Lives Matter protests going on now. It has spread to cultural institutions, thanks to the DeColonise This Place protests and even into academia. Corporate America, whose only interest has always been the financial bottom line, is being forced to join this conversation.</font></span><div><font face=""><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial"><font face="">In Rome I have a continuing guerrilla billboard campaign in support of the Me Too movement. </font><span>It was not difficult to find images to serve as the literal poster child for #Me Too. Doing this project has changed me. There is a new awareness of how deep, profound and across the board abuse and victimisation of women is in the canon of western art. I now look at the artworks differently than I did as an undergraduate sitting in a darkened lecture hall watching slides projected on a screen. </span></font></div><div><span><font face="arial"><br /></font></span></div><div><span><font face="arial">There are ramifications to art history. As I was writing this post, Congressman Ted Yoho called Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a, and I refuse to repeat the vulgarity, literally behind her back on the steps of the US Capitol. In his forced faux apology in the House, Yoho said, and I quote, "no one was accosted, bullied or attacked".</font></span></div><div><font face=""> </font></div><div><font face=""><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q56zgI7HLGA/XyRHzWLgrxI/AAAAAAAAB3A/iVFJDoDsEscaB_kxyPqdE_PKroMbpfvDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1222/metoo_3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="1000" height="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q56zgI7HLGA/XyRHzWLgrxI/AAAAAAAAB3A/iVFJDoDsEscaB_kxyPqdE_PKroMbpfvDQCLcBGAsYHQ/w419-h512/metoo_3.JPG" width="419" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial">Christopher Pelley #Me Too Rome</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGmxZvOZXXY/XyRJP5JD05I/AAAAAAAAB3M/qKFXh1eun1Y4jsxAAgj1noFnMKMM0SjBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1800/metoo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1715" data-original-width="1800" height="390" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGmxZvOZXXY/XyRJP5JD05I/AAAAAAAAB3M/qKFXh1eun1Y4jsxAAgj1noFnMKMM0SjBQCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h390/metoo.JPG" width="410" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial">Christopher Pelley #Me Too Rome</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_Pldv0GQek/XyRKxikDJCI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/L4bSyDp7jBU2QMU-4w3mEZrpl1DbH7tYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/metoo_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1976" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z_Pldv0GQek/XyRKxikDJCI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/L4bSyDp7jBU2QMU-4w3mEZrpl1DbH7tYQCLcBGAsYHQ/w395-h410/metoo_2.JPG" width="395" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial">Christopher Pelley #Me Too Rome</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BkGun_M7uEo/XyRLT0Nz4qI/AAAAAAAAB3g/LyQWyc_QKnMWOjYNE3oyOZyKPEbHmVZIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1279/metoo_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1000" height="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BkGun_M7uEo/XyRLT0Nz4qI/AAAAAAAAB3g/LyQWyc_QKnMWOjYNE3oyOZyKPEbHmVZIQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h512/metoo_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><font face="arial">Christopher Pelley #Me Too Rome</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">The good news: change happens. Congressman Yoho will not be seeking re-election in the fall.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div></font></div><div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-12335597889305271312020-07-25T09:51:00.001-07:002020-07-27T14:27:42.508-07:00Chinese Characteristics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QI7eNvQIdek/Xxeog1df_LI/AAAAAAAAB00/outkRmlulLAoglHMX-wEtHB1qPQEk6rlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/la-ba.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QI7eNvQIdek/Xxeog1df_LI/AAAAAAAAB00/outkRmlulLAoglHMX-wEtHB1qPQEk6rlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/la-ba.JPG" width="242" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /><font face="arial">
In the northern hemisphere water circles clockwise before continuing its journey down the drain. In the southern hemisphere I am told it circles counterclockwise before descending.</font><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">Culturally the East and the West reflect a similar polarity. Structures of everyday life are conceptually organised in opposite ways.</font><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="arial"><font face="">In the
West, writing is organised in lines from the top of the page to the bottom going </font></font><span style="font-family: arial;">from left to right</span><font face="" style="font-family: arial;">. Traditionally in the East
writing was composed in columns descending from the top to the
bottom of the page and organised right to left across the page. Clay roof tiles
in the West are laid in convex courses and in the East the courses
are laid in a concave fashion. Even royal colors are opposites –
western royalty wore purple and imperial chinese wore yellow. The West</font><span style="font-family: arial;"> prefers organising geographies from smaller to larger: street, city, province, and China prefers </span><span style="font-family: arial;">larger to smaller organisation: </span><span style="font-family: arial;">province, city, street. The polarity continues to even the way time is conceptually ordered, which seems to present endless confusion with translation software.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> The West
considers the past to be below (ie we build upon the past) and the
future is above. Chinese express the past as SHANG </span><b style="font-family: arial;">上</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> (above or on top
of) and the future is XIA </span><b style="font-family: arial;">下</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> (under or below). </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sometimes I wonder if somewhere in the world there is a place that water does not circle to the left or to the right, but effortlessly and without hesitation continues a leisurely journey to its destination.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="arial">My work in China references this distinct cultural narrative. Here are a few paintings that I did last year in my studio outside of Beijing.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlgN1bokVes/Xxur0Q3AFMI/AAAAAAAAB1s/U77F_dEe0NkM7cMNlSFULxdV7ELgOJBywCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/chinese_characteristics_1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="716" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlgN1bokVes/Xxur0Q3AFMI/AAAAAAAAB1s/U77F_dEe0NkM7cMNlSFULxdV7ELgOJBywCLcBGAsYHQ/w448-h500/chinese_characteristics_1.JPG" width="448" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><font size="2">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #1</font></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 135cm x 120cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dT_y5_RwGWg/Xxur31ZRQdI/AAAAAAAAB1w/bUJwEVSGoi4BUP4QNKwfdNvfeOBczX1UACLcBGAsYHQ/s800/chinese_characteristics_2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="800" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dT_y5_RwGWg/Xxur31ZRQdI/AAAAAAAAB1w/bUJwEVSGoi4BUP4QNKwfdNvfeOBczX1UACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h319/chinese_characteristics_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #2</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 135cm x 175cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EaU7tkoqyj8/Xxus5578NLI/AAAAAAAAB2A/peXMMIN33Zg8dOIKrkLIQgy1_4Z9jhebQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/chinese_characteristics_3b.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="915" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EaU7tkoqyj8/Xxus5578NLI/AAAAAAAAB2A/peXMMIN33Zg8dOIKrkLIQgy1_4Z9jhebQCLcBGAsYHQ/w381-h500/chinese_characteristics_3b.JPG" width="381" /></a></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><font size="2">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #3</font></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 170cm x 130cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbISucVYNtE/XxutBMjf_AI/AAAAAAAAB2E/imCD-v_Vd18vo5929eviHZ26dQUOjiqQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/chinese_characteristics_5.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="853" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbISucVYNtE/XxutBMjf_AI/AAAAAAAAB2E/imCD-v_Vd18vo5929eviHZ26dQUOjiqQwCLcBGAsYHQ/w426-h500/chinese_characteristics_5.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #5</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 150cm x 130cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ACvm3IZfMM/XxutFCMcgTI/AAAAAAAAB2I/plX9rzm4vaYv9yY-RODZxpMgWc3giQw2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/chinese_characteristics_6.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="843" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ACvm3IZfMM/XxutFCMcgTI/AAAAAAAAB2I/plX9rzm4vaYv9yY-RODZxpMgWc3giQw2gCLcBGAsYHQ/w351-h500/chinese_characteristics_6.JPG" width="351" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #6</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 115cm x 80cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3hUIX3su53E/Xxut2gC8KHI/AAAAAAAAB2c/Pqeq7WnixVENcWdbG2KPZmCVzBgOhqHqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1108/chinese_characteristics_7.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="900" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3hUIX3su53E/Xxut2gC8KHI/AAAAAAAAB2c/Pqeq7WnixVENcWdbG2KPZmCVzBgOhqHqwCLcBGAsYHQ/w406-h500/chinese_characteristics_7.JPG" width="406" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #7</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 105cm x 95cm</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEs-12zyMlM/Xxut4d6MakI/AAAAAAAAB2g/X_qsc83ELy0iU-jCh32BJusf0wj9CfOeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/chinese_characteristics_8.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="873" height="500" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rEs-12zyMlM/Xxut4d6MakI/AAAAAAAAB2g/X_qsc83ELy0iU-jCh32BJusf0wj9CfOeQCLcBGAsYHQ/w436-h500/chinese_characteristics_8.JPG" width="436" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Christopher Pelley Chinese Characteristics #8</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><font face="arial" size="2">mixed media / canvas 100cm x 90cm</font></div></div><font face="arial" size="2"><br /></font></div></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face=""><br /></font></p></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-38466845673425372792015-01-31T10:38:00.000-08:002015-01-31T10:38:25.428-08:00Fear of the Fragment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKkCTjirHpM/VHu-gTjaDcI/AAAAAAAAA8o/5prEEI3umzI/s1600/Adam__Tullio_Lombardo_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hKkCTjirHpM/VHu-gTjaDcI/AAAAAAAAA8o/5prEEI3umzI/s1600/Adam__Tullio_Lombardo_2.jpg" height="320" width="282" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently the Metropolitan Museum unveiled the newly restored 15th century sculpture of Adam by Tullio Lombardo. It has taken 12 years of research and conservation since that afternoon in 2002 when the plywood base beneath the marble sculpture buckled and Adam toppled onto the floor sending hundreds of pieces careening in all directions. Almost immediately the decision was made to restore the sculpture as closely as possible to its pre-impact appearance. After the major and innumerable minor fragments were re-assembled, pinned and glued, there were still areas where the marble had been pulverized upon impact. These gaps were filled with an acrylic based bulking materials. The sculpture was then cleaned of excess acrylic and centuries of grime. He was a wonder to behold, but also left me wondering. Are we seeing a major shift in he goals of restoration?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up until the renaissance people didnt seem concerned about the past except in passing. With the humanist shift to the here and now from the previous focus on the after-life, the past became an object of inquiry. Trade in antiquities boomed as collectors competed for new finds gouged from the earth. Disappointment with fragments was remedied through artful "restoration". These often fanciful reconstructions would frequently knit together disparate pieces to form a new, more pleasing completed piece. Many noted sculptors, including Bernini, would be enlisted to carve the missing pieces. Forward a few centuries later and the architect and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 - 1778) developed a different view. He celebrated the fragment as an embodiment of the past, whose reconstruction will always only be conjecture. This notion was rapidly adopted by the Romantics a generation later with Friedrich Schlegel who postulated that the fragment was a gateway to the sublime. We in the west have maintained that position...until now. When the temple of Abu Simbel was rescued from the rising waters behind the Aswan Dam in 1968 and moved to higher ground, the seams from where the massive stone monument was cut could have been concealed when it was reassembled. But they were not. When Da Vinci's Last Supper was restored from 1978-1999 everything was removed that was not considered to be by the hand of Da Vinci, leaving only ghostly traces for contemporary viewers.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But has digital reconstruction imagery popularized by the History Channel shifted the way we want to see the past? Has enhanced reality become more potent than the real? Does the restoration of Tullio Lombardo's Adam and the ongoing reconstruction of the Parthenon, complete with filling of chipped sections of the column drums and lintels, re-carved missing sections all supported by modern materials signal the death of the Sublime?</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me? I believe in the power of the fragment as interpretive memory. I guess Im just </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Old Skool</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that way.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-bidk3wJ-k/VM0X27Xa64I/AAAAAAAAA_0/GFDA6TjUSxw/s1600/PELLEY_piranesi.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-bidk3wJ-k/VM0X27Xa64I/AAAAAAAAA_0/GFDA6TjUSxw/s1600/PELLEY_piranesi.JPG" height="317" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, Piranesi oil/canvas 75cm x 90cm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0uxKEXlVx3Q/VM0YxoJdYZI/AAAAAAAAA_8/O-gt0c-nGwQ/s1600/PELLEY_antinoo_beloved.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0uxKEXlVx3Q/VM0YxoJdYZI/AAAAAAAAA_8/O-gt0c-nGwQ/s1600/PELLEY_antinoo_beloved.JPG" height="327" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, Antinoo (beloved) oil/canvas 75cm x 90cm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WsfJZefahbA/VM0a83gtWPI/AAAAAAAABAI/Xz3feLtX2iI/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WsfJZefahbA/VM0a83gtWPI/AAAAAAAABAI/Xz3feLtX2iI/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" height="400" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, Toga oil/canvas 55cm x 50cm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-34789127292883099542015-01-07T20:42:00.000-08:002015-01-07T20:42:20.336-08:00Learning from Lei Feng<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rbcyPgaMutM/VK4GXTgHQgI/AAAAAAAAA-w/qOdwLv6aNfA/s1600/lei_feng.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rbcyPgaMutM/VK4GXTgHQgI/AAAAAAAAA-w/qOdwLv6aNfA/s1600/lei_feng.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lei Feng (1940-1962) was a soldier in the Peoples Liberation Army, who, post-mortem, was singled out and promoted as a role model by no less than Mao Zedong himself. His near mythic acts of selflessness (he darned his comrades' socks! he sewed quilts for others! he hauled heavy loads of manure!) earned him a feast day on the Chinese calendar. March 5 is now known as Learn From Lei Feng Day. The 5 months I was in Beijing, I learned that just about every one has a strong feeling about Lei Feng. He is seen as either the uncomplaining young man who helped old ladies cross the street, or as a propaganda tool minted for the darkest times of recent Chinese history - the Cultural Revolution. His cult has been revived in part to combat the excessive selfishness that has emerged with the get rich at any cost mentality. Like any myth or legend, I believe he falls somewhere in between.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And like any myth or legend, there is an accumulation of imagery that is available to explore. Inexplicably there are photos of Lei Feng worthy of a Hollywood studio. High wattage light drenching the scene with hard cast shadows replaced earlier, humbler depictions of his actions. But it is his cherubic face with his eyes gazing straight out that I zeroed in on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The China of Lei Feng has changed beyond recognition; the analog has been superseded by the digital. Thrift is ignored as consumerism is encouraged. In the village of Shangyuan, about 30km north of Beijing, I installed a hand painted lo-rez image of Lei Feng. Each 'pixel' is a 4cm x 4cm square of painted paper. Confusing up close, Lei Feng is only seen from a distance.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--_OMRkTCWfE/VHqGKBbdbYI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/84Lskm6uszY/s1600/linkdin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--_OMRkTCWfE/VHqGKBbdbYI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/84Lskm6uszY/s1600/linkdin.JPG" height="131" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, Lei Feng From a Distance 2014</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything is <i>made in China</i> and in quantities beyond comprehension, feeding the world's appetite for cheap goods and the domestic consumption of 1.4 billion people. Who mends a pair of socks today? This lo-rez image of Lei Feng was made from over 600 pairs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T7-iKLA8AF4/VK38HhUhjxI/AAAAAAAAA-U/AyKsim47fyk/s1600/lei_feng_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T7-iKLA8AF4/VK38HhUhjxI/AAAAAAAAA-U/AyKsim47fyk/s1600/lei_feng_2.JPG" height="325" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, He Darned His Comrades' Socks 2014</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The propaganda department during the years of the Cultural Revolution wove the narrative of this fine young soldier's devotion to the welfare of others with his devotion to the words of Mao. It was these years that saw the Great Leap Forward result in the deaths of millions of peasants as their farm implements were melted to satisfy iron production quotas set by the central government. I began painting the image of Lei Feng on shovels. When asked by a visiting guest if these works were political, I could only reply that all works and all decisions are in some way political.....</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oV9f9suzKW0/VK4E0CaNjyI/AAAAAAAAA-k/WVXV6wQHDkM/s1600/lei_feng_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oV9f9suzKW0/VK4E0CaNjyI/AAAAAAAAA-k/WVXV6wQHDkM/s1600/lei_feng_3.JPG" height="383" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley, Shoveling Dung 2014</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every good hero dies at the end of the story. Lei Feng was killed at age 22 when, while directing a fellow soldier backing up a truck, a telephone pole was struck and fell on our comrade. </span></div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-66634625599564442402014-05-13T02:11:00.000-07:002014-05-20T09:23:01.319-07:00surveillance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ITzCAOa2zaI/UXwzd_JOs5I/AAAAAAAAAWE/tgp1W2djatI/s1600/surveilance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ITzCAOa2zaI/UXwzd_JOs5I/AAAAAAAAAWE/tgp1W2djatI/s320/surveilance.JPG" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There appears to be one growth industry in these post-economic downturn times. Surveillance cameras. They are everywhere - proliferating like cheap tourist souvenirs. It seems that one cannot saunter down any strada without being watched. But this is Roma, and have you ever really been able to move about unnoticed? Whether it be gods or emperors, eyes have always been upon you, sometimes staring defiantly at you, sometimes just threatening to look your way. The mute stones that populate this city have always watched. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have started my own street watch campaign, referencing this roman proclivity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMV2rqcMzl4/UyR3YaCVtLI/AAAAAAAAAr0/WbLiPuGuRSY/s1600/PELLEY_surveillance_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hMV2rqcMzl4/UyR3YaCVtLI/AAAAAAAAAr0/WbLiPuGuRSY/s1600/PELLEY_surveillance_1.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Li31k8vLj8Q/UyR3fedJUHI/AAAAAAAAAr8/td4gUiQLzPM/s1600/PELLEY_surveillance_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Li31k8vLj8Q/UyR3fedJUHI/AAAAAAAAAr8/td4gUiQLzPM/s1600/PELLEY_surveillance_3.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShqAexiWnfA/UyR46cORiiI/AAAAAAAAAsI/GyMU-3P0AFU/s1600/PELLEY_9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShqAexiWnfA/UyR46cORiiI/AAAAAAAAAsI/GyMU-3P0AFU/s1600/PELLEY_9.JPG" height="640" width="419" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hy70gNk_y1o/U2a1IHCR6rI/AAAAAAAAAuc/gX6tphBbtCE/s1600/surveillance_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hy70gNk_y1o/U2a1IHCR6rI/AAAAAAAAAuc/gX6tphBbtCE/s1600/surveillance_4.JPG" height="315" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next time you take a stroll, try and count how many cameras, private and civil, are tracking you.</span></div>
</div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-92525716865182812014-03-22T06:42:00.001-07:002014-03-22T06:42:56.327-07:00Analog in a Digital World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1h-pFmDfH2Y/Ux2mGd0ZlmI/AAAAAAAAArY/mTaGG2_h_tA/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1h-pFmDfH2Y/Ux2mGd0ZlmI/AAAAAAAAArY/mTaGG2_h_tA/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" height="400" width="305" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Within our lifetime, perhaps the greatest revolution in the way we communicate information since the invention of writing has occurred. And this revolution has been seamless, all pervasive and universally embraced. I'm talking about the shift to digital from analog. My practice as an artist is firmly routed in the analog - I mean how much more analog can you get than smearing charcoal on paper. Increasingly what interests me is what happens when the analog bumps up against the digital - the intersection of the accidental, imprecise and ephemeral with the clear logic of the binary.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The exhibition, <b>A Brief History of Fashion, christopher pelley / recent drawings</b>, currently up at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Illinois explores this friction. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The drawing process begins with a digital photograph, which is cut up and projected onto separate sheets of paper. The outlines are traced, and each section is worked individually. This process is not about understanding the whole, but rather trying to make sense of marks and shapes out of context. Each sheet is an information byte. At the end, when the individual sheets are assembled, the result is not so much a competed photographic image, but rather an interpretive memory. It is an approximation of the photo - it is understandable, but something doesn't quite add up. Something was lost in translation.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UW44l6b5BLQ/UyyuESA9XmI/AAAAAAAAAs8/fLxAAoeMsH4/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UW44l6b5BLQ/UyyuESA9XmI/AAAAAAAAAs8/fLxAAoeMsH4/s1600/PELLEY_toga.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley TOGA charcoal/paper 90" x 88"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H5uILhRW3Iw/UyyuhNFOFHI/AAAAAAAAAtE/nCN2kHEPb4Y/s1600/PELLEY_caravaggio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H5uILhRW3Iw/UyyuhNFOFHI/AAAAAAAAAtE/nCN2kHEPb4Y/s1600/PELLEY_caravaggio.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley CARAVAGGIO charcoal/paper 90" x 88"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yWjYdJupzMc/UyywDOK79RI/AAAAAAAAAtM/fFZwCR5Kb-k/s1600/PELLEY_hoodie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yWjYdJupzMc/UyywDOK79RI/AAAAAAAAAtM/fFZwCR5Kb-k/s1600/PELLEY_hoodie.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley HOODIE charcoal/paper 90" x 88"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an aside, I subscribe to the theory that optical devices have played a role in the studio practice of many artists from the 15th century on - Caravaggio (1571-1610) included. The image of Caravaggio's Boy Peeling Fruit (1592) that I have appropriated for this exhibition has always felt a bit awkward. The boy's right sleeve appears disjointed, disconnected from the rest of the body. I had a very difficult time working on that segment of the drawing. The shapes I was drawing did not convey information to me. It was only after I assembled the completed sections that I understood what I had drawn. The boy's right arm is viewed from a point that is slightly different and slightly out of focus from the rest of his body. Did I stumble upon tangible proof that Caravaggio used optics, at least for this early work?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The exhibition runs from March 19 to April 18, 2014 at the Performing Arts Center Gallery at Illinois Central College.</span></div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-48703484155547954262014-03-10T04:35:00.001-07:002014-03-10T04:35:50.942-07:00Omens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are places that have been forgotten and then through some happenstance, rediscovered. Rome is full of such examples. The Auditorium of Hadrian existed only in antique references, but recently </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">has been </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">discovered and identified during the dig for the new Metro Line C currently plowing underground through the Centro Storico. A</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd then in contrast there are those places that have persisted with an uncanny sense of continuity.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T8xccaZhzGs/Uxyf5K7bUNI/AAAAAAAAAq4/FCwEWeiRbFM/s1600/isola_tiberina.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T8xccaZhzGs/Uxyf5K7bUNI/AAAAAAAAAq4/FCwEWeiRbFM/s1600/isola_tiberina.JPG" height="301" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Isola Tiberina, high water from winter rain</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Isola Tiberina, a little lump of brick and stucco buildings that poke up from the river, is such a place. Originally, i</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not much more than a sandbar at a bend in the Tiber - a neglected place (except by criminals and unsavory types) until a catastrophe happened. So often in history it takes a catastrophe to get things going, and in the case of the unfrequented Isola, the catastrophe came as a plague which swept through the city of Romulus in 293 BC. A delegation was immediately dispatched to the sacred temple of Aesculapius, the god</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of medicine and healing in Epidaurus, Greece, to seek help. When the ship returned to Rome in 291 BC with one of the snakes sacred to Aesculapius as cargo, the precious cargo escaped and slithered away to the unsavory and uninhabited Island. An Omen. Yes, an Omen. When things don't go according to plan, it is an Omen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A temple to Aesculapius was built on that sand bar, and the island became a center of the healing arts. In the 1st century BC, the sandbar was reshaped by a travertine embankment sculpted to look like a boat in honor of the origin of its mission. After millenia of wear, Aesculapius and his snakes on the prow of the boat are still visible. At the center of the Island, an obelisk was erected representing the mast of the ship. Today, the obelisk is gone, replaced with a more christian monument. Aesculapius' temple has been replaced by the church of San Bartolomeo, who by association with this locale is now the patron saint of medicine and healing. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The inscription on the facade of the church proudly proclaims that the body of St Bartolomeo the apostle "is here"). Opposite the former temple/ current church, the island is dominated by a hospital of the Fatebenefratelli (the do-good brothers), founded in 1584, continuing the very ancient tradition of hospice and healing the sick on this island.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QWeqiLjlS9U/UxycGc9v8QI/AAAAAAAAAqk/8BFQ3syyh2c/s1600/isola_tibertina_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QWeqiLjlS9U/UxycGc9v8QI/AAAAAAAAAqk/8BFQ3syyh2c/s1600/isola_tibertina_1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">travertine prow, Isola Tiburina, 1st century BC</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rYPvYYaLY8k/Uxyc1e-YU5I/AAAAAAAAAqw/wd4jg8-DOXY/s1600/isola_tiburtina_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rYPvYYaLY8k/Uxyc1e-YU5I/AAAAAAAAAqw/wd4jg8-DOXY/s1600/isola_tiburtina_2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">detail, Aesculapius + snake, travertine prow</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s4lGWRKL0mc/Ux2gMK80ZVI/AAAAAAAAArM/rciWd1KkSlA/s1600/s_bartolomeo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s4lGWRKL0mc/Ux2gMK80ZVI/AAAAAAAAArM/rciWd1KkSlA/s1600/s_bartolomeo.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">San Bartolomeo, Isola Tiberina</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When I reach a point where things aren't going as planned, I mutter the word "Omen". It was, after all, one of those slow moving catastrophes that seem to plague our lives that landed me here in Rome. </span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-75659232077558573172013-10-10T20:42:00.000-07:002013-10-12T08:13:44.767-07:00Piranesian<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOuhlhYMItM/UldPtwv7fJI/AAAAAAAAAmw/QYEFdjUdt_g/s1600/Piranesi_carceri+XIV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mOuhlhYMItM/UldPtwv7fJI/AAAAAAAAAmw/QYEFdjUdt_g/s400/Piranesi_carceri+XIV.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Piranesi Carceri XIV</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm crazy about Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the 18th century Italian engraver, archaeologist and architect (Venice 1720 - Rome 1788). It is his late etchings of Carceri, or prisons that one most often associates him with today. The frenetic line quality of Escher like spaces that border on madness and fantasy has catapulted his fame, but I am drawn to his earlier works, and his novel idea of the fragment.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Up until the 18th century, the idea of the fragment was disturbing. The collectors who squabbled over pieces of sculpture that were being gouged out of the roman soil from the renaissance onward (more often than not in the preceding centuries marble fragments were burned to obtain the lime content to make mortar), were not content to merely display them 'as is'. They were 'repaired'. Very often fragments were combined and reworked to make a new, tasteful piece, or contemporary sculptors (including Bernini) concocted additions to replace missing parts. My favorite roman museum, Palazzo Altemps, has excellent wall tags that illustrate the demarcation between the original and the later repairs to the sculptures in the collection.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Living in Rome, one becomes acutely aware of the idea of the fragment, and the role of conjecture in trying to make sense of the fragment. Piranesi embraced this enigma to celebrate what was lost, or erased by time, in essence, treating fragments as an interpretive memory. I too have come to embrace this view of Roma and the Antique World. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OltZ4ytV9JI/Uldfz6pryQI/AAAAAAAAAnA/vANfj7s8xlI/s1600/PELLEY_capitoline+venus_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OltZ4ytV9JI/Uldfz6pryQI/AAAAAAAAAnA/vANfj7s8xlI/s400/PELLEY_capitoline+venus_4.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Capitoline Venus #4 acrylic/digital photo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recent mixed media works on paper now at Front Art Space in New York, start with a photographic image, either one of sculptures I have photographed in Rome, or generic photos of classical sculptures. Almost haphazardly, I take a brush and paint and begin to blot out large parts of the photo until only isolated fragments remain. The resulting image lacks coherence and presents an altered view of the sculpture, forcing a certain amount of conjecture, whether correct or incorrect, to complete the picture. I believe Piranesi would have approved.</span></div>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qtEZvm24dU4/Uldg-s2u9hI/AAAAAAAAAnM/_Y1WMYT5Lcw/s1600/PELLEY_altemps_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qtEZvm24dU4/Uldg-s2u9hI/AAAAAAAAAnM/_Y1WMYT5Lcw/s400/PELLEY_altemps_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Altemps #1 acrylic/digital photo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o1_V03qBUyw/UldsM2kdeVI/AAAAAAAAAoA/ngfYn9MrKB0/s1600/PELLEY_patroclus_menelaus_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o1_V03qBUyw/UldsM2kdeVI/AAAAAAAAAoA/ngfYn9MrKB0/s400/PELLEY_patroclus_menelaus_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Patroclus + Menelaus acrylic/digital photo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZcQZWOhHF4/UldwqDLvjPI/AAAAAAAAAog/adgOxqWYIqg/s1600/PELLEY_altemps_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZcQZWOhHF4/UldwqDLvjPI/AAAAAAAAAog/adgOxqWYIqg/s400/PELLEY_altemps_4.jpg" width="323" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Altemps #4 acrylic/digital photo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NQnrSD8z4zQ/UldteH-bVPI/AAAAAAAAAoU/_KjJEnHtSLc/s1600/PELLEY_altemps_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NQnrSD8z4zQ/UldteH-bVPI/AAAAAAAAAoU/_KjJEnHtSLc/s400/PELLEY_altemps_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Altemps #2 acrylic/digital photo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-78357099093831064882013-05-11T12:14:00.000-07:002013-05-13T12:14:57.501-07:00Antinoo @ Villa Albani<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axqwpFEUpV8/UY6GFqoo7dI/AAAAAAAAAXg/ly2K0DSFDnw/s1600/villa_albani_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axqwpFEUpV8/UY6GFqoo7dI/AAAAAAAAAXg/ly2K0DSFDnw/s400/villa_albani_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stumbled upon the Villa Albani one twilight stroll out the Via Salaria. I have since become obsessed with that Villa - those parterres glimpsed over a stone wall surmounted by iron bars and barbed wire and the faux 18th century ruins that have fallen into ruins themselves. It is an isolated island of umbrella pines and cypress surrounded by an early 20th century residential district developed when much of the Villa's land was partitioned and sold. One can feel the sadness of its history. Cardinal Allessandro Albani (1692-1799), a passionate collector of antiquities, devoted his vast wealth to the construction the casino, gardens and dependencies to display his spectacular collection. The Cardinal was assisted by Johann Winckelmann (1717-1768) in the arrangement and cataloging of his treasure trove. It was here in 1764 that Winckelmann penned The History of Art in Antiquity, a text which would become a touchstone of the neoclassical movement. The Cardinal's passion ended up bankrupting him, his final days spent broke and blind. Winkelmann succumbed to another passion - returning from a trip to Vienna, he was murdered by a bit of rough trade that he had invited back to his hotel room.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The decay of parts of the Villa is very real and palpable. Just outside the estate's southern gates I installed a lo-rez image of Antinoo to serenely overlook this urban ruin. The image of Antinoo, made from over1000 5cm x 5cm pieces of painted paper, is based upon a photo of the 2nd century AD bust of Antinoo at the Museo Nazionale Romano / </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Palazzo Altemps</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Interestingly, the face of the marble was re-carved in the 18th century to reflect the new neoclassical aesthetic.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84KcecXZH0s/UY6SfjAOE8I/AAAAAAAAAXw/ZUNMAr3w9OM/s1600/villa_albani_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84KcecXZH0s/UY6SfjAOE8I/AAAAAAAAAXw/ZUNMAr3w9OM/s400/villa_albani_5.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Antinoo @ Villa Albani 2013</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ojAcNZSBTzs/UY6So_FdFaI/AAAAAAAAAX4/GVWBpkv5GTE/s1600/villa_albani_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ojAcNZSBTzs/UY6So_FdFaI/AAAAAAAAAX4/GVWBpkv5GTE/s400/villa_albani_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Antinoo @ Villa Albani 2013</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z24Pf1fmSS8/UY6SwSO3huI/AAAAAAAAAYA/C9aC2jfvydA/s1600/villa_albani_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z24Pf1fmSS8/UY6SwSO3huI/AAAAAAAAAYA/C9aC2jfvydA/s400/villa_albani_3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Antinoo @ Villa Albani 2013</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This project was installed on May 8, 2013, and with it, I felt I had paid homage to Villa Albani. Here, like some sort of votive offering, I placed a 21st century interpretation of an image revered by the Cardinal and Winckelmann.</span>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-82190431153759641472013-04-30T12:16:00.000-07:002013-04-30T12:16:39.612-07:00Reduce, Re-use, Recycle <div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eSZgltmj4WA/UYASYSgm3AI/AAAAAAAAAWU/ij5Cx2xoNXY/s1600/portfolio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eSZgltmj4WA/UYASYSgm3AI/AAAAAAAAAWU/ij5Cx2xoNXY/s400/portfolio.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the two cities that I live in, New York and Roma, recycling has become an integral part of the urban existence. Does the waxed tetra-pac go in the paper bin, or with the plastics? The blue bag goes to the curb on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Force of habit generates state of mind. So when I was thumbing through a portfolio of old prints at a bookseller a few weeks ago, and found several copies of a 19th century print, I knew I had to recycle them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L-mWUqEVHbI/UYAUaMYURqI/AAAAAAAAAWk/uoodISyPs2g/s1600/PELLEY_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L-mWUqEVHbI/UYAUaMYURqI/AAAAAAAAAWk/uoodISyPs2g/s400/PELLEY_1.JPG" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Bearer #1</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JFKy9A3hJx8/UYAUc29hUAI/AAAAAAAAAWs/XEmdnE4BAto/s1600/PELLEY_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JFKy9A3hJx8/UYAUc29hUAI/AAAAAAAAAWs/XEmdnE4BAto/s400/PELLEY_2.JPG" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Bearer #2</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5l4agY95LA/UYAUg-qiFeI/AAAAAAAAAW0/rlwph4SeGm8/s1600/PELLEY_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c5l4agY95LA/UYAUg-qiFeI/AAAAAAAAAW0/rlwph4SeGm8/s400/PELLEY_3.JPG" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Bearer #3</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nP4hCHCTaBI/UYAUj_mf7VI/AAAAAAAAAW8/vItYUivc23c/s1600/PELLEY_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nP4hCHCTaBI/UYAUj_mf7VI/AAAAAAAAAW8/vItYUivc23c/s400/PELLEY_4.JPG" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Bearer #4</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGBJumg3x9Y/UYAUmoT3pnI/AAAAAAAAAXE/NsR3duB7SlQ/s1600/PELLEY_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGBJumg3x9Y/UYAUmoT3pnI/AAAAAAAAAXE/NsR3duB7SlQ/s400/PELLEY_5.JPG" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Bearer #5</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ywBLp4BS9qk/UYAUpzDyEfI/AAAAAAAAAXM/KqYov4Ivv8k/s1600/PELLEY_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ywBLp4BS9qk/UYAUpzDyEfI/AAAAAAAAAXM/KqYov4Ivv8k/s400/PELLEY_6.JPG" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Water Beater #6</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">paper size of each is 57cm x 43cm, image size is 37cm x 25cm</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-51976134054053819442013-04-10T11:20:00.001-07:002013-04-10T11:20:47.173-07:00Rome By Night<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDqu3sS55OM/UWMoFWWDhUI/AAAAAAAAAUc/8-9gQTrQhGU/s1600/PELLEY_night1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kDqu3sS55OM/UWMoFWWDhUI/AAAAAAAAAUc/8-9gQTrQhGU/s400/PELLEY_night1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is still March, and I have come to savor these waning days of winter. The air still has a chill, and the clocks have yet to be pushed forward. The steady trickle of tourists that will become a torrent with the warmer weather retreat with the sunset, and I am left alone alone to have the piazzas and monuments and medieval vicoli all to myself. I can hear my footsteps echo and the fountains gurgle under the feeble light of the sodium vapor. A few shop windows beckon falsely - there is no one behind the locked gates. That's OK, I only want to look. I try to loose myself by turning down streets I don't recognize. Like some sort of Cinderella for a few hours, this city is mine to possess. Tomorrow is another day, the morning will come and the city will be taken over by others, but for now it is mine. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nzx61R8aN5c/UWMwAU3OwOI/AAAAAAAAAU8/8OimQStfppA/s1600/PELLEY_night3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nzx61R8aN5c/UWMwAU3OwOI/AAAAAAAAAU8/8OimQStfppA/s400/PELLEY_night3.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfhtlBkr7lY/UWMv7s8xo0I/AAAAAAAAAU4/p0y71FqqDS4/s1600/PELLEY_night2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rfhtlBkr7lY/UWMv7s8xo0I/AAAAAAAAAU4/p0y71FqqDS4/s400/PELLEY_night2.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hOzDWJz5yEw/UWMwTXZ1e5I/AAAAAAAAAVU/hiDxe0m4wr0/s1600/PELLEY_night7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hOzDWJz5yEw/UWMwTXZ1e5I/AAAAAAAAAVU/hiDxe0m4wr0/s400/PELLEY_night7.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aY80LxUd5A0/UWMwcejAW8I/AAAAAAAAAVc/qeQPg0QMqYA/s1600/PELLEY_night8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aY80LxUd5A0/UWMwcejAW8I/AAAAAAAAAVc/qeQPg0QMqYA/s400/PELLEY_night8.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TBj_8Sf-Gxk/UWMv3Qn855I/AAAAAAAAAUw/-Ykyea5d4Kg/s1600/PELLEY_night6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TBj_8Sf-Gxk/UWMv3Qn855I/AAAAAAAAAUw/-Ykyea5d4Kg/s400/PELLEY_night6.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJnuzExFiYk/UWMwnTHpnqI/AAAAAAAAAVk/WbsMNd48tqk/s1600/PELLEY_night9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJnuzExFiYk/UWMwnTHpnqI/AAAAAAAAAVk/WbsMNd48tqk/s400/PELLEY_night9.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sudCJVC3yZc/UWMwsGB3L7I/AAAAAAAAAVs/cJByV_MPtn8/s1600/PELLEY_night10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sudCJVC3yZc/UWMwsGB3L7I/AAAAAAAAAVs/cJByV_MPtn8/s400/PELLEY_night10.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good night. Sweet dreams.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-90881899822222426502013-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:002013-02-10T14:37:32.988-08:00New Chinese Landscape<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IAxS7-_4XkE/URLNF8kLwWI/AAAAAAAAATE/PeST7avFhuE/s1600/fuchun-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IAxS7-_4XkE/URLNF8kLwWI/AAAAAAAAATE/PeST7avFhuE/s400/fuchun-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Huang GongWang DWELLING IN THE FUCHUN MOUNTAINS ca 1350</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The province of Zhejiang has always been prized for its natural beauty, its landscape immortalized in classic Chinese paintings. Those lonely ethereal mountains rising up out of the mists appearing and disappearing seemingly at whim have much company these days. The breakneck pace of urbanization has swarmed into these valleys and chewed away at the mountains and hillocks themselves. The small CUN, or villages with their winding lanes are being leveled and an unforgiving grid pattern is taking hold of the countryside. In the scant month that I was living in that intermediate zone between HangZhou and FuYang, I watched streams channeled into culverts and a valley covered with multiple meters of fill, mid rise complexes following in their wake. I began looking down more and more, and up less and less. At my feet lay the New Chinese Landscape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IglARlM3rek/URgdPeXXeeI/AAAAAAAAATY/bM4fSybt3Dk/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IglARlM3rek/URgdPeXXeeI/AAAAAAAAATY/bM4fSybt3Dk/s400/PELLEY_ncl_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #1</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YhbY3BNoQbg/URgdV1VTy1I/AAAAAAAAATg/GI0G2cHiNP8/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YhbY3BNoQbg/URgdV1VTy1I/AAAAAAAAATg/GI0G2cHiNP8/s400/PELLEY_ncl_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #2</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C2qT8z_S9i4/URgdbKbv7CI/AAAAAAAAATo/ODA46mOICbs/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C2qT8z_S9i4/URgdbKbv7CI/AAAAAAAAATo/ODA46mOICbs/s400/PELLEY_ncl_3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #3</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V2MTDoj2tuY/URgdhw7U9II/AAAAAAAAATw/jeNJ-qbM5o8/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V2MTDoj2tuY/URgdhw7U9II/AAAAAAAAATw/jeNJ-qbM5o8/s400/PELLEY_ncl_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #4</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sUQIJKB0cJ8/URgdqBn-WJI/AAAAAAAAAT4/0ljrgz1fKII/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sUQIJKB0cJ8/URgdqBn-WJI/AAAAAAAAAT4/0ljrgz1fKII/s400/PELLEY_ncl_5.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #5</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mjd_LHlIBeA/URgdyBdX0vI/AAAAAAAAAUA/nb7oCsHwZFo/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mjd_LHlIBeA/URgdyBdX0vI/AAAAAAAAAUA/nb7oCsHwZFo/s400/PELLEY_ncl_6.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #6</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xYEkrVT1md0/URgd5WKC3LI/AAAAAAAAAUI/OzMXeYnaTIM/s1600/PELLEY_ncl_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xYEkrVT1md0/URgd5WKC3LI/AAAAAAAAAUI/OzMXeYnaTIM/s400/PELLEY_ncl_7.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pelley NEW CHINESE LANDSCAPE #7</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I photographed what lay at my feet, a Chinese professional walked by and asked "why?" in perfect English before jumping on his motorcycle and zipping away.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-26970359100638630812013-02-06T13:02:00.000-08:002013-05-11T12:16:09.355-07:00Harmonious Society<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In September I had the amazing opportunity to participate at an artists' residency outside of HangZhou, China. Skillfully organised by Luca Zordan, an Italian based curator, and hosted by SUN HOO Industrial Design Innovation Park at their office complex (still under construction) in Fuyang.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3Y0DXsDr2A/URLEUDUNsdI/AAAAAAAAASw/AQ1nGumiUfU/s1600/sunhoo_2012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3Y0DXsDr2A/URLEUDUNsdI/AAAAAAAAASw/AQ1nGumiUfU/s400/sunhoo_2012.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New China is experiencing another "Great Leap Forward" and "Cultural Revolution". Only this time around, the past is being swept away and the countryside developed beyond recognition more effectively by the pursuit of money than it ever was by political ideology. Not everyone, though, has signed on to the vision of the bright and shiny future. And many more bristle at the greed and corruption that always partners enormous sums of money. Even I caught a faint whiff of trouble in the workers' paradise. Slogans, posted by a government obsessed with control and protecting their status quo are everywhere. "It is patriotic to obey the laws" is one that caught my attention on a roadside wall. But the phrase "Harmonious Society" leads the pack in the "maintenance of stability" department. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The glittering cities which have gone viral in China are constructed by a new underclass - migrant workers. Beside every building site there sits a 2 story blue temporary metal structure which serves as worker's housing. When the project is completed, the workers' housing comes down, and the workers themselves drift away. The one at SUN HOO was located in an excavated pit (which will hold the substructure of a future high-rise), surrounded by its own stagnant pond of run-off water. Many workers chose to live in impromptu tent villages built within the high-rises under construction rather than suffer the heat of the metal rooms they are allotted. I too lived in the construction site, albeit in a completed building. I had a room, air conditioning and an en-suite bathroom. I watched in privilege the ebb and flow of the workers and how things changed almost daily from their raw labor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H-RvjPMdTrQ/URK_OyMjrPI/AAAAAAAAAR0/LOWiKFuRZkU/s1600/PELLEY_workers_housing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H-RvjPMdTrQ/URK_OyMjrPI/AAAAAAAAAR0/LOWiKFuRZkU/s400/PELLEY_workers_housing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />With much pointing and smiling coupled with my sputtering Mandarin, I began taking photos of workers hands forming gestures in American Sign Language. The 11 photos spelled out HE XIE SHE HUI, which is PINYIN for Harmonious Society. (PINYIN is the phonetic spelling of Chinese characters in the Latin alphabet. Very useful when using a QWERTY keyboard). I displayed them propaganda style in a building they had recently completed.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5d6Xd2CnUBs/URK_2LJmuOI/AAAAAAAAAR8/1EhZ4t-3fYU/s1600/PELLEY_harmony_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5d6Xd2CnUBs/URK_2LJmuOI/AAAAAAAAAR8/1EhZ4t-3fYU/s400/PELLEY_harmony_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Pelley HARMONIOUS SOCIETY installation</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIXlpWqXQpE/URK_5suJyuI/AAAAAAAAASE/J80q1X1-2-o/s1600/PELLEY_harmony_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIXlpWqXQpE/URK_5suJyuI/AAAAAAAAASE/J80q1X1-2-o/s400/PELLEY_harmony_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Pelley HARMONIOUS SOCIETY installation</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The project continued at SUN HOO with a lo-rez portrait of one of the migrant workers. Each 'pixel' of the portrait was a 5cm x 5cm piece of painted paper. Still unfinished at the time the residency ended, I installed it "as is" on the floor of an unoccupied building. The breezes blowing through the space disrupted the image and soon, like the workers, it will disappear. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ycOFMmP3kQ/URLABxz1ONI/AAAAAAAAASU/L4j3s7Qybw4/s1600/PELLEY_migrant_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ycOFMmP3kQ/URLABxz1ONI/AAAAAAAAASU/L4j3s7Qybw4/s400/PELLEY_migrant_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley MIGRANT WORKER installation</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was an awesome time. I saw a lot, learned a lot, and left feeling morally ambiguous. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-49452324914679536892012-10-10T07:34:00.000-07:002012-10-20T23:00:21.211-07:00Project Dante<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dante Aleghieri, 1265 - 1321</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, <i>that</i> Italian poet from the thirteenth century. The one Bob Dylan sang about. He was born in Florence, backed the wrong political party, and spent the last decades of his life in exile writing the greatest trilogy ever. (The Florence City Council rescinded Dante's exile sentence in June, 2008). </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From hell through purgatory and then to paradise, Dante got back at everybody who ever harmed him, his words having a strength and a resonance that has echoed through the intervening centuries. The fact that he wrote in the vulgar tongue, the language of the 99%, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rather than Latin,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hasn't hurt his popularity. I am in awe of the power of his poetry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would happen if Dante lived today? As someone who was cast out by the ruling power structure, would he take his words to the street? Recently, I have been working on a project that supposes that Dante was a tagger, his lines mixing with other graffiti here in Roma.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-14kTLmFd8Mg/UHWDEcmpn9I/AAAAAAAAAQ0/Kc_T5vOpDuI/s1600/PELLEY_dante_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-14kTLmFd8Mg/UHWDEcmpn9I/AAAAAAAAAQ0/Kc_T5vOpDuI/s400/PELLEY_dante_7.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta piu caramente</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(you shall leave everything you hold most dear)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> PARADISO XVII / 55</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k7nhohxOCnA/UHWC-d0nOFI/AAAAAAAAAQs/o74QsoXHzEo/s1600/PELLEY_dante_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k7nhohxOCnA/UHWC-d0nOFI/AAAAAAAAAQs/o74QsoXHzEo/s400/PELLEY_dante_6.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piange</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(come and see your Rome and how she weeps)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> PURGATORIO VI / 112</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FS1NJWBLMIY/UHWC47Z_tKI/AAAAAAAAAQk/bFsOKKNA-TI/s1600/PELLEY_dante_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FS1NJWBLMIY/UHWC47Z_tKI/AAAAAAAAAQk/bFsOKKNA-TI/s400/PELLEY_dante_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5q8EywFj7yo/UHWCtnx8rqI/AAAAAAAAAQU/6S_ctHnT1HQ/s1600/PELLEY_dante_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5q8EywFj7yo/UHWCtnx8rqI/AAAAAAAAAQU/6S_ctHnT1HQ/s400/PELLEY_dante_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">L'anima tue e da viltade offesa</span>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(your spirit is assailed by cowardice)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> INFERNO II / 45</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnjFHbaigcA/UHWCpFRYNWI/AAAAAAAAAQM/_JuezC0e5DQ/s1600/PELLEY_dante_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnjFHbaigcA/UHWCpFRYNWI/AAAAAAAAAQM/_JuezC0e5DQ/s320/PELLEY_dante_1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Vengo del loco ove tornare disio</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I come from a place that I wish to return to)</span><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> INFERNO II / 71</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like a criminal returning to the scene of a crime, I would watch peoples' reactions (or not) to the postings. The one that got ZERO attention, was the one posted over a political poster near Palazzo Madama, seat of the Italian Senate. The text posted (I thought appropriately) was "come and look at your Rome and how she weeps"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-avfMbOlok08/UHWDJgA-GFI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/u7IJKVAMfEU/s1600/PELLEY_dante_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-avfMbOlok08/UHWDJgA-GFI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/u7IJKVAMfEU/s320/PELLEY_dante_5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-5334808105506198052012-07-24T15:07:00.000-07:002013-05-11T12:16:47.659-07:00Aqua Alta<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of medieval Rome - meaning the populated district from, say, the 6th century to the 16th century lies within the Campo Marzio. Definitely a poor choice for habitation, because it's a flood plain embraced by a broad bend of the Tibur. In imperial times, the campo was a district for major public monuments and theaters - housing was for the most part located elsewhere. After the shift of the imperial administration to Constantinople in 330, Rome decayed and changed rapidly. In 398 the imperial government in absentia found it necessary to issue a proclamation prohibiting, under pain of exile, the building of hovels and huts amongst the once grand civic monuments of the Campo Marzio. In the end the huts and hovels won out as the dwindling population coalesced in the campo (population estimates calculate over 1,000,000 in the 1st century AD, crashing to less than 30,000 by the 6th century) There was a price to pay for that decision. Aqua Alta. High water. The Tibur periodically overflowed its banks, and numerous plaques (more than 100 remain) note the inundations, some unbelievably high. The earliest remaining plaque is from an inundation in 1277; some are fanciful and some are mundane, but they all tell a story of water washing over the habito. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AQZkA5njClM/UA8aF5mAGJI/AAAAAAAAAPA/sRlm-Vn31eU/s1600/high+water-1422-s-maria-sopra-minerva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AQZkA5njClM/UA8aF5mAGJI/AAAAAAAAAPA/sRlm-Vn31eU/s400/high+water-1422-s-maria-sopra-minerva.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">high water mark of 1422, facade of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aLWNGqS9R4w/UA8aJRElSKI/AAAAAAAAAPI/6pnHe01O2k0/s1600/high+water+s-maria-sopra-minerva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aLWNGqS9R4w/UA8aJRElSKI/AAAAAAAAAPI/6pnHe01O2k0/s400/high+water+s-maria-sopra-minerva.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">high water mark of 1530, facade of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYJBldU6eeE/UA8aR7mD2wI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/p_FY1of-0IA/s1600/high+water-Rome_flood_marker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYJBldU6eeE/UA8aR7mD2wI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/p_FY1of-0IA/s400/high+water-Rome_flood_marker.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">high water mark of 1597, facade of Sant' Eustachio</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rising flood waters are on our minds these days. Oh sure, the North Carolina legislature has tried to make the problem go away by officially banning mention of rising sea levels due to global warming in documents and planning projections funded with state money, but cities from New York to London to Venezia are preparing for the inevitable. Wandering the narrow streets of Roma, as I so often do, I began to wonder: If the water rose to such unbelievable heights in the 15th and even 20th centuries (before the protective embankments were built in the 19th century, and upstream dams in the 1950's and 60's), what does the future hold? Here is a video of an urban intervention I did of a possible scenario: </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J9b2oK3hQfY?rel=0" width="420"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-86935461004677894672012-06-03T15:08:00.000-07:002012-06-03T15:08:59.935-07:00Sublime<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WUG0QpakDBE/T8ueHnUkHKI/AAAAAAAAAOA/c16mNSXZPEw/s1600/piranesi_the-roman-antiquities-t-1-plate-xiv-pantheon-1756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WUG0QpakDBE/T8ueHnUkHKI/AAAAAAAAAOA/c16mNSXZPEw/s400/piranesi_the-roman-antiquities-t-1-plate-xiv-pantheon-1756.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">sublime: <i>adj. </i> impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur or power; inspiring awe, veneration, etc.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That pretty much describes the Pantheon. No matter how often I walk beneath that portico of 40 foot grey and rose granite columns (grey across the front, rose on the inside, except for 2 on the east side that were replaced in 1660 ) and enter the bronze doors (reputed to be original), my eyes automatically lift above the hordes of tourists snapping photos, upwards, towards the oculus. This building is the third iteration of the Pantheon, built by Hadrian in 126 AD, modifying (or even re-positioning, the verdict is still out) the original Pantheon of Agrippa from 27 BC, which had been restored by Domitian after a major fire in 80 AD. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7VHmQFu07U/T8vcCkF7a5I/AAAAAAAAAOM/nyungo5LM58/s1600/PELLEY_pantheon_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7VHmQFu07U/T8vcCkF7a5I/AAAAAAAAAOM/nyungo5LM58/s400/PELLEY_pantheon_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHzGflqXsyQ/T8vcT7EFugI/AAAAAAAAAOs/X6BTPXcllmg/s1600/PELLEY_pantheon_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SHzGflqXsyQ/T8vcT7EFugI/AAAAAAAAAOs/X6BTPXcllmg/s400/PELLEY_pantheon_5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One afternoon last summer, when I was in the "neighborhood" I stopped by as much to escape the heat of the roman summer as an acknowledgement of the magic that the building exerts on me. With no agenda, I entered and let my eyes wander...... It was then that I noticed there was something peculiar about the arch above the portal. It wasn't a true "roman' arch - that ubiquitous perfect half circle. It was more squashed, bordering on the elliptical. And it was the only one. Why?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After several more visits, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I began to believe that the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">slightly elliptical void </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">related </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">somehow to the beam of light that entered through great oculus, or eye in the dome and gently traced an arc across the expanse of dome. Each day the arc is slightly different, shifting and drifting across the dome in response to the earth's wobble around the sun. Maybe the two, one fixed and one in motion, would line up on an auspicious day. I began my watch. I hypothesized that maybe it would be the spring equinox. The beam of light approached closer and closer to the void each day as March 21 approached, the lowest point of its daily arc happening about noon. On March 21 it was close, but no clean alignment. The next day I believed to be auspicious was April 21, the ancient roman festival of Pales, goddess of shepherds, the day revered to be the date Romulus founded the city of Rome in 753 BC. Romulus dug the pomerium, or sacred boundary, of his city on the Palatine (one of the 7 hills of Rome). That hill has since given us the word palace from the immense imperial residences there, and was originally dedicated to Pales, herself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTRTyjZemuk/T8vcGUyB4DI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fJsGfjhQWlI/s1600/PELLEY_pantheon_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTRTyjZemuk/T8vcGUyB4DI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fJsGfjhQWlI/s400/PELLEY_pantheon_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Almost daily I checked on the progress of the beam and the void, and at the stroke of noon </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(actually it was 1 pm since the clocks had been moved forward for daylight savings), on April 8, the beam and the void lined up. I was crushed. Was this meeting just a coincidence and totally lacking in cosmic significance? I had to ponder this over a gelato, and the math worked itself out. The Julian calendar, set in place by the father of the empire himself, Julius Ceasar in 46 BC was hopelessly out of whack by the renaissance. A new calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, skipping 10 days to bring the calendar into sync with the solar year. Since then, the Julian calendar has slipped another 3 days behind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FLc3FAn2ITM/T8vcPwfxPAI/AAAAAAAAAOk/AD8rNG5E7pk/s1600/PELLEY_pantheon_4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FLc3FAn2ITM/T8vcPwfxPAI/AAAAAAAAAOk/AD8rNG5E7pk/s400/PELLEY_pantheon_4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 13 days I was missing were found. Heaven and Earth were united for the festival of Pales; the beam of light connected as it has for 2 millennium with the void to illuminate the north facing porch of the temple. The great gears of the cosmos continue to turn, reminding the ancients of its power, while the hordes of tourists continue to mill about unaware. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-33581035245775243942012-04-23T03:27:00.000-07:002012-04-23T03:27:37.209-07:00Mirabilia Urbis Romae<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>CHRISTOPHER PELLEY / NEW WORKS</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>PALAZZO DELFINI, ROMA</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULufAt3_LHI/T5UpE3j9IXI/AAAAAAAAANw/ahkHICWb5Bc/s1600/PELLEY_mur_9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ULufAt3_LHI/T5UpE3j9IXI/AAAAAAAAANw/ahkHICWb5Bc/s400/PELLEY_mur_9.JPG" width="266" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rome = tourists. And long before Frommer's or the Guide Blue, there was the <i>Mirabilia Urbis Romae - </i>the Marvels of the City of Rome. First penned in the 1140's, it remained an immensely popular guide book well into the 15th century. With a writing style "unhampered by any accurate knowledge of the historical continuity of the city", it instead relied on myth, gossip and legend and a considerable amount of inventive fantasy in the description of the monuments of Rome.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have taken the <i>Mirabilia</i> as a starting point for this exhibition and like some 18th century traveler on the Grand Tour, I have been exploring the monumental, the existential and the ordinary in this Place. The large scale drawings, collages and installations of the exhibition express a piranesian sense of a past and a present that never was, assembled from fragments slightly out of context.. The post-modern tendency to be referential and ironic is balanced by my sense of observation and (subtle) humor. And here, as in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mirabilia Urbis Romea</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, the works are less of a descriptive cataloging of the marvels and more of an emotional response to this, the Eternal Jumble.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBspc9lf36c/T5UkUK8pN_I/AAAAAAAAANY/TcmvxrYqQoQ/s1600/PELLEY_mur_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBspc9lf36c/T5UkUK8pN_I/AAAAAAAAANY/TcmvxrYqQoQ/s400/PELLEY_mur_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley installation view </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE</span></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wHi8LoFhFvI/T5UkKwsYc3I/AAAAAAAAANQ/SrxbT4R8wFU/s1600/PELLEY_mur_7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wHi8LoFhFvI/T5UkKwsYc3I/AAAAAAAAANQ/SrxbT4R8wFU/s400/PELLEY_mur_7.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley installation view <i>MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EMmRI8TaVMI/T5UpKJHS3mI/AAAAAAAAAN4/5jyfPwJOX7U/s1600/PELLEY_mur_10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EMmRI8TaVMI/T5UpKJHS3mI/AAAAAAAAAN4/5jyfPwJOX7U/s400/PELLEY_mur_10.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Pelley installation view <i>MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_0vNAv3TkmM/T5UkiivFD9I/AAAAAAAAANo/gC-GF0ruIYM/s1600/PELLEY_mur_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_0vNAv3TkmM/T5UkiivFD9I/AAAAAAAAANo/gC-GF0ruIYM/s400/PELLEY_mur_1.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Christopher Pelley installation view <i>MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this exhibition was installed at Palazzo Delfini in Roma in April, 2012</span><br />
<div><br />
</div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-51328350456842893632012-04-08T05:11:00.000-07:002012-04-08T05:11:24.370-07:00Mater Christi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q6lESAla26A/T4F-rKfdAMI/AAAAAAAAAM8/0JBo-8i8qM8/s1600/artesacra.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q6lESAla26A/T4F-rKfdAMI/AAAAAAAAAM8/0JBo-8i8qM8/s400/artesacra.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon entering the lobby of the parochial grade school that I attended, one was accosted by a large nondescript wall, the middle section of which was paneled with wood strips stained a dark brown in keeping with the taste of the mid sixties. One spring morning at assembly we were told that a sculpture of the Virgin Mary, the namesake of our school, was being carve in Italy for that blank wall. An italian sculpture being shipped to Burlington Vermont! My fertile fifth grade mind went into overdrive. Would it be like an early Michelangelo, sad and refined with maybe an arm or a foot left unfinished while the rest of the gleaming white carrara marble was polished to perfection, evidence that the sculpture was abruptly taken away from the carver to be transported to our school? Or maybe it would be Berniniesque with piles of torrid drapery and undulating rapturous folds. I secretly drew pictures imagining possible permutations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fateful day arrived. Something stood against that naked wall beneath a sheet, pregnant with expectation. We were all ushered from our classrooms and silently (for grade schoolers) filed into the lobby to face the sheet. With prayers and a great flourish, the sheet was yanked away from the wall and with it my heart collapsed as it deflated to the floor. There, attached to the wall was a <i>wood</i> carving somewhat painted. Not so much polychromed so as to have that syrupy verisimilitude of the saints and martyrs gazing down upon me at church, but rather like some paint was applied, then wiped off. More like a stain. The much anticipated drapery hung stiffly in lines that I guess were meant to describe folds. Disappointment reigned supreme in my heart that day, and not the Queen of Heaven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had long forgotten this episode, until the other day when I was walking down via dei Cestari, here in Roma, and in a store window for arte sacra, there she was. Mater Christi.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZYrjnPjS-w0/T4F-v_wZVhI/AAAAAAAAANE/N1dwLpocvGE/s1600/materchristi.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="387" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZYrjnPjS-w0/T4F-v_wZVhI/AAAAAAAAANE/N1dwLpocvGE/s400/materchristi.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-31710267313267373702012-04-01T03:58:00.000-07:002012-04-01T03:58:34.328-07:00Large Scale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-limlfoHaQ4k/T3guVH4UhGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/q7fieY0rJNY/s1600/monument.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-limlfoHaQ4k/T3guVH4UhGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/q7fieY0rJNY/s400/monument.JPG" width="356" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monuments are, well, monumental. Big. Sense of scale is everything. As a New Yorker, one would think I am immune to the presence of the large, but counter-intuitively here in Roma I am in a state of perpetual awe. And my work has responded accordingly to my adopted environment. Recently in the studio I have been working on a series of large scale drawings which relate to this Eternal jumble of a City, which I then place in the urban environment. I like the in context / out of context tension that develops. (and of course I like to watch how people interact with them too)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDRZUGbBI9I/T3gqt1to0mI/AAAAAAAAAL4/7Cdw-PLbn4A/s1600/gesture_1_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDRZUGbBI9I/T3gqt1to0mI/AAAAAAAAAL4/7Cdw-PLbn4A/s400/gesture_1_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Large Gesture #1<br />
<br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4coBZ3jx0rs/T3gum0JJFwI/AAAAAAAAAMc/5ANIaaf98I4/s1600/gesture_1_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4coBZ3jx0rs/T3gum0JJFwI/AAAAAAAAAMc/5ANIaaf98I4/s400/gesture_1_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Large Gesture #1</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Afsvyxj6Ze8/T3gvMAAUlUI/AAAAAAAAAMk/wfc_lIrzjzY/s1600/gesture_1_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Afsvyxj6Ze8/T3gvMAAUlUI/AAAAAAAAAMk/wfc_lIrzjzY/s400/gesture_1_3.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Large Gesture #1<br />
<br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SU3OBjtZetE/T3gweK5EL-I/AAAAAAAAAM0/fe0DtUC2EHA/s1600/gesture_1_screengrab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="341" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SU3OBjtZetE/T3gweK5EL-I/AAAAAAAAAM0/fe0DtUC2EHA/s400/gesture_1_screengrab.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Christopher Pelley Large Gesture #1</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This drawing (charcoal on paper, 230cm x 144cm) was temporarily installed on a sunny day at the end of March 2012, in Piazza Lovatelli, Roma</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5789347294216138442.post-10929092895028795632012-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:002012-02-01T13:53:23.812-08:00Penises of Rome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdEguFsHMu8/TyW5gQVLtgI/AAAAAAAAAKo/OpkuueeBAL8/s1600/capitoline.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdEguFsHMu8/TyW5gQVLtgI/AAAAAAAAAKo/OpkuueeBAL8/s400/capitoline.JPG" width="340" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, admit it. We all do it. We check out the crotch on those buff roman male statues. Whether our interests are prurient or not, we just have to go there.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To combat the possible sense of lust, church fathers set the trend for covering up the offending pudenda with plaster fig leaves. They are the smallest fig leaves I have ever seen, conforming tightly to the genitals... (speaking of which, have you ever noticed that Venus, the goddess of Love, doesn't have genitals?) But why fig leaves? The Bible states simply that Adam and Eve covered up their nakedness; it doesn't say with what. Back to the origins of christian iconography, Adam is shown with a large fig leaf, not only to cover his sex, but also to hide where the navel should be. An easy way out from a thorny liturgical question, as important at the time as say, how many angels could dance on the head of a pin? Or did Christ's divinity come from him or through him? (a major theological crisis which lead to excommunications, and schism). So, if Adam was created by God, and not born of a woman, would he have a belly button? The artistic answer was to hide that part of the body and call it a day. A fig leaf did the trick.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QPXFSK8TJ30/TyW76CQZRnI/AAAAAAAAAKw/jBFwRJdrUsw/s1600/adam+eve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QPXFSK8TJ30/TyW76CQZRnI/AAAAAAAAAKw/jBFwRJdrUsw/s1600/adam+eve.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Hunterian Psalter English ca 1170</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial;">With time and trends, the fig leaves are falling, sometimes exposing, er, not much. The penis has fallen off in the intervening couple of thousand years. (Former) Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was so concerned that the 2nd century AD statue of Mars gracing his office was minus the penis, that he had a restorer fashion a new one. In keeping with the parameters of restoration and not permanently intruding on ancient material, the new penis is attached with a magnet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Here are a few hanging around Roma (or not).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2qHEBJr6SHM/TyW-QKppA0I/AAAAAAAAALA/GRJxXOd25ik/s1600/penis_6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2qHEBJr6SHM/TyW-QKppA0I/AAAAAAAAALA/GRJxXOd25ik/s400/penis_6.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vkBInyDrAE4/Tymx014Y49I/AAAAAAAAALQ/nPc0xPaWT70/s1600/penis_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vkBInyDrAE4/Tymx014Y49I/AAAAAAAAALQ/nPc0xPaWT70/s400/penis_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6G7eqvCXWwU/Tymx63bTwzI/AAAAAAAAALY/yYukaImONBE/s1600/penis_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6G7eqvCXWwU/Tymx63bTwzI/AAAAAAAAALY/yYukaImONBE/s400/penis_10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bSfDByP4eKk/Tymx-ue-qJI/AAAAAAAAALg/v_BlSm4mknY/s1600/penis_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bSfDByP4eKk/Tymx-ue-qJI/AAAAAAAAALg/v_BlSm4mknY/s400/penis_12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qrh0-m14S7o/TymyF-x6eKI/AAAAAAAAALo/2k3t19bsjRA/s1600/penis_13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qrh0-m14S7o/TymyF-x6eKI/AAAAAAAAALo/2k3t19bsjRA/s400/penis_13.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aXe0zARNJ-w/TyXFNRa5DzI/AAAAAAAAALI/Gc93CiHcvM8/s1600/penis_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aXe0zARNJ-w/TyXFNRa5DzI/AAAAAAAAALI/Gc93CiHcvM8/s400/penis_5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div>Christopher Pelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06317749799935442635noreply@blogger.com0